catalyst-chicago.org

Chicago’s debate over social promotion has faded for the most part. In Illinois, few followed the city’s lead in making standardized test scores a primary factor in retaining children.  Many large districts and charter schools say they look at multiple factors before holding children back and don’t pass students along for social reasons—but don’t fail large numbers of students either.

Jermaine Kelly’s elementary school experience was chaotic. Every time he turned around, a fight was “jumping off,” he says, smiling sheepishly and adding, “We had wars inside that school, and I was in the middle of it.”

The response of the principal was swift and always the same. Jermaine says he was suspended so many times, it felt like going through a revolving door. “I would get there, and two days later I would be back home,” Jermaine recalls.  In 7th grade, he was suspended multiple times for eight to 10 days.

It’s a practice that just won’t die.

Study after study, researcher after researcher, has made the same point: Holding students back when they are not achieving at grade level does not help them academically.

Still, the idea resonates with the public. And outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley garnered praise for instituting a ban on social promotion in 1996.

Now, like an aging, punch-drunk prizefighter who just won’t give up and leave the ring, the district’s promotion policy remains alive, if not well.