Social promotion, the practice of keeping students with their peer group even if their academic achievement doesn’t warrant passing to the next grade, is a well-meaning but flawed policy. Social promotion strives to preserve the self-esteem of failing students at the expense of their education. It is clear that we aren’t doing our students any favors by passing them to the next grade completely unprepared, yet policies to end social promotion must also be accompanied by the recognition that it will take much effort and many resources to help those students who do not meet standards. Failing to take responsibility for the education of all children in our society, including failure to provide opportunity to underachieving students, holds grave consequences. With this outlook, Governor Susana Martinez proposes to end social promotion in New Mexico classrooms and help struggling students make academic gains.
During her campaign Governor Martinez spoke out on social promotion: “When doing anything substantive or meaningful in life, the foundation one puts in place is critical to long term success…every year in the classroom – from pre-kindergarten through high school – builds on learned subject matter and experiences.” It is clear that passing students from grade to grade regardless of their achievement undermines education as a whole by stripping these students of the opportunity to create a solid base for their future. According to the US Department of Education, “More than half of teachers surveyed in a recent poll stated that they had promoted unprepared students in the last school year, often because they see no alternative. Research indicates that from 10 to 15 percent of young adults who graduate from high school and have not gone further--up to 340,000 high school graduates each year--cannot balance a checkbook or write a letter to a credit card company to explain an error on a bill.”
The Southwest Learning Centers do not practice social promotion and have long advocatd for teh elimination of social promotion throughout New Mexico's schools. For example, the Southwest Secondary Learning Center high school curriculum does not allow a student to move forward until they have mastered a concept. Each lesson in the curriculum includes an in-depth lecture, a vocabulary assignment, and a homework assignment. Students must complete the assignments and lecture successfully before attempting to take a short assessment on the topic. A student must earn a grade of 70% - 80% to pass the topic. Otherwise, instruction and additional practice is assigned by the teacher to insure the student has mastered the concept and not just accumulated seat time for the purpose of meeting an arbitrary, state-assigned goal. If a student is not able to pass the assessment, they receive individualized, one-on-one help from an instructor. After completing extra homework or reviewing the lecture, the quiz can be attempted again, usually with much more success. This approach to learning helps students who would normally fall behind. This approach also works very well for students that are normally bored in a traditional classroom setting. Very motivated, high-achieving students are able to work at their own pace and get extra explanation and help as needed. Students who would normally fall behind are able to get the extra attention and assistance required to move to grade-level or ahead.
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