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OCTOBER 2004

Against Testing and Retention

Advocates for Children and other experts have asked for a withdrawal of the proposal to retain 5th grade students on the basis of a single test score. In an open letter to Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein, they argue the following:

Though we don’t doubt your strong commitment to improving NYC schools, the policy you seek to implement will do more harm and use a tremendous amount of precious education funds which could be used for programs that are effective. Research clearly demonstrates that retention on the basis of a single test does not increase student achievement. Rather, the data from over two decades of research indicates that such retention policies decrease academic performance and increase the likelihood of dropping out, especially among low income and minority youth.

In examining national reports, the New York City Promotional Gates program under Chancellor Macchiarola, and the current Chicago Public Schools promotional policy, it can be concluded that no large urban school system has been able to increase student performance through such a retention policy. New York City’s Gates program in the 1980s added a huge financial burden to the City but had no long-term improvement to show for it. Instead of increasing performance, the Gates retention program actually increased the likelihood that retained students dropped out of school. In Chicago, retained sixth graders have seen a deterioration in their academic abilities, which prompts us to have a great concern for what may happen to retained fifth graders if you do not reconsider your proposal.

We believe that a more sound approach to improving academic performance is to implement one of the many proven practices including smaller class sizes, expanded pre-kindergarten, early intervention, and intensive help for students at-risk of failing.#

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