[Cincinatus' Wife]

"Third-graders who were retained made monumental gains" on state tests, up to 20 points higher than what they had scored the year before, said UH sociologist Gary Dworkin.

Consequences are a kick in the butt. Self-esteem comes from personal success, not from denying a school's failure to teach.

[america-rules]

My first son was held back in kindergarden. I used to sit in the parking lot and watch the black teacher hug and kiss every black kid who was in her class and just say hi to all the others as they arrived at school. When he finished the year she said he didn't know the ABC's when he knew them two years earlier in preschool (a good black teacher).

My second Son (15 years later and 5 years old in 2003) goes to a private school and can read and write and he starts kindergarden in two weeks.

The moral is public ed sucks and alot of teachers suck !

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The social "stigma" of holding back a child in second grade will not haunt a child like a failure to learn to read well.

[mlmr]

It is not necessarily a school's failure to teach when it comes to reading. I homeschool and reading occurs when the child is ready and can put the code together. Some kids do it later than others. I have a five year old who has been reading at the third and fourth grade level for a year. My son, who I have been working with for three years is 8 and a half and is just picking up books to read on his own this year. He will be using this year to build his skills. I have home schooling children who were nine and ten before reading happened.

[TheMom]

What I comprehended from this article is, it is a chance for "specialist" to try more experimental teaching BS.

The study, which Fletcher said is about to be published, concluded that intervention, whether in groups or one-on-one, is needed to help students who are likely to fail. At-risk students need more than the enhanced classroom instruction they may typically get.?

Can you say "DUH!!!"

The problem is so many teachers cannot identify the "at-risk" students until they test them.

[mewzilla]

Around our neck of the wooods, holding kids back is the norm, not the exception. A-type parents seem to think that if their kids are at the top of their class in first grade, the kids will be on track for a prestigious school and a well-paid career.

[ChemistCat]

I held my middle child back a year because she was small for her age and struggling socially; she did first grade twice. Academically she was doing fine, but I could see that she could be doing better if she wasn't so stressed by being small for her age. It was a great decision. She is so much happier and more successful in every way. She's still the smallest in her class!

Doesn't have anything to do with teaching, in this case. I have the kids in an excellent private school.

You have to get over your ego. Yeah, my friends' kids were all skipping grades, but they're tall and it worked fine for them. And then the kids turn 16 and are off to college, and I can't help but wonder if they've really gained anything by having their one chance at being kids short-sheeted that way.