Whatever Happened to Childhood?
By Jill Levy

I thought I learned my lessons well in developmental psychology, but apparently I’m wrong.

That is the conclusion I must draw based on the recent decision by corporate America to re-institute a retention policy for NYC third graders. Although all research proves that holding children back doesn’t work in the long-run, and despite the fact that we tried it in New York City and it failed, the newest managers of the NYC public schools think that they can make it work.

I’m not sure on what they’re basing that decision. My opinion, however, is based upon what I learned at Hunter College earning my master’s degree in education, what I learned by experience teaching elementary school, and what I observed in my many years of service at all levels of education.

The first graders I taught hadn’t reached any of the ‘normal” developmental milestones and had little in terms of life experiences from which to draw. I needed to broaden their life experiences and I needed to combine a first-grade curriculum with a kindergarten readiness program until, with one exception, everyone was writing, reading sentences, and communicating in English.

Two of my students had been held back. They were way ahead at the beginning of the year, but to my amazement, by early spring, almost everyone had caught up with them, and some had moved ahead.

Here’s what I learned from that year’s experience and many other experiences: Holding children back is not the answer. We must better prepare our youngest children so they can meet the demands of an elementary school curriculum.

I am calling for universal pre-kindergarten for all children ages 3 and up. If we are going to compare all these children later on in their school years—and hold them back for “failing”—we need to even the learning field. We must stop punishing them for social problems we have not, or cannot, address. We must stop punishing them because some of their parents don’t speak English, are poor, are uneducated, and, in some cases, are irresponsible. We must stop punishing families who are using all their energy to survive.

I call on the State Education Department to completely overhaul our existing system of day care/early childhood education. We must staff our early childhood classes with licensed professionals. We must have licensed supervisors with expertise in early childhood to watch over the delivery of early childhood education. We must pay these professionals appropriately and stop treating them as if they are baby sitters.

We must implement child study teams to identify academically needy youngsters. We must assess their specific needs and design a plan to address the deficits.

As for the third-grade retention policy that Mayor Bloomberg recently implemented, I challenge him to find any research that proves it works. I don’t question a few children may benefit, but the majority will suffer; some will develop life-long scars.#

Jill Levy is President, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators