Flunk, retain, drop out
Wade Tillett
Test (ISAT) will come back.
* The booklet sent out with ISAT says “No person or organization shall
make a decision about a student or educator on the basis of a single
test." (1)
* Despite this, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) trusts this test to
override our own teachers in deciding the future of our children.
* For third, sixth and eighth graders, our promotion policy
automatically flunks at least one in four children based on a thirty or
forty question test. (2)
* At the end of summer school, CPS is five times more likely to retain a
child for the next year if they are African-American than if they are
white. (3)
* By retaining a student, CPS increases that child's chance of dropping
out by 29%. (4)
* Chicago Public Schools spends $100 million dollars every year on this
policy. (5)
* Extensive research shows that it DOES NOT WORK. Repeating a grade does
not help children succeed. (4)
Why do we continue to threaten eight-year-olds and tell third-graders
they are failures? Why do we make students cry, throw-up, and finally
quit?
Chicago Public Schools should use the $100 million it spends every year
on holding back kids to instead provide what students really need:
caring professionals with the time and resources to find out what works
for each of them. Our children need advocates, not inflexible policies
spit out of a machine.
CPS should stop using standardized test scores to override all other
considerations in making student grade promotion decisions. I encourage
anyone who agrees to sign the petition at bubbleover.net. And I
encourage other parents to contact Parents United for Responsible
Education if your child is forced to go to summer school.
Wade Tillett is a Chicago Public School parent and teacher.
1. 2009 ISBE ISAT Professional Testing Practices for Educators
booklet
2. CPS policy sends any student below the 24th percentile to summer
school.
3. http://pureparents.org/data/files/retentionreport09.pdf
4. http://www.fairtest.org/chicago-research-criticizes-retention-test-driven-improvement
5. $10,000 per student per year times approximately 10,000 students
retained