THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290412
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Academically struggling students don't benefit much from repeating a grade, education research says.
And pushing faltering kids along to the next level isn't very helpful, either.
So officials with Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Schools are studying a policy that would help lagging students catch up to their peers during a rigorous summer program.
The proposed ``Promotion/Intervention Policy,'' introduced to the School Board on Monday night, would set entrance requirements for students moving to the fourth, seventh and ninth grades.
The requirements would be based initially on end-of-grade test scores, but officials expect to phase in other, more individual, measures as soon as possible.
Students in the three transitional grades who don't make the first cut will be more closely examined by a committee of school officials, who will probe into tests and work examples to decide whether the child is ready for the next grade level.
Kids who aren't - and administrators estimate that 400 or more won't be by the end of this year - will find themselves in four weeks of summer classes.
The following school year, participating students will receive additional help if they need it, including extra classes or possible assignment to a special program.
Administrators say the proposed policy is an important part of the district's long-term efforts to define what children need to succeed after leaving school.
``It sort of gives you a vision of where you're trying to go,'' Superintendent Joe Peel said Tuesday. ``I think this will set some clear standards.''
Educators also hope the new plan will help nudge students who came to school less ready to learn than their peers.
``Right now we're kind of playing this crazy game that assumes that everybody starts equally,'' said Mack McCary, the district's assistant superintendent for instructional services.
But that's not the case, he said. An exhaustive study of every kindergartner in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank system this year showed that about one in five were not ready to succeed in school, McCary said.
Primarily because of inattention by parents, the underprepared students lack such skills as understanding directions, working in groups, sorting and counting, and understanding why they're in school.
Without a chance to catch up, officials say, those students will be underdogs for the rest of their lives.
``If you start behind, if nothing different happens,'' McCary said, ``you're still going to be behind.
``The bottom line is, some kids have got to have more time to have an equal chance.''
Policies like the district's proposal are typically called ``promotion/retention'' plans, and some kids under the new system may still end up being ``retained'' in a grade for an extra year. But Pasquotank officials used the word ``intervention'' to show they're looking for alternatives to holding students back.
The new policy also adds a dimension of accountability for students and parents, officials say, because kids won't be rubber-stamped from grade to grade.
But eligible students who choose not to attend the summer classes, the policy says, will be required to repeat their grade level.
``Ultimately, it's the kid who's got the ball,'' Peel said.
The promotion/intervention policy also fits in with Pasquotank's involvement in statewide pilot programs to break new ground in learning standards and educator accountability, Peel said.
And it puts teachers in more of a coaching role with their students. Because teachers will not take part in deciding whether their own students are promoted, their job will be to prepare students to perform to others' satisfaction.
Among those who will determine if kids pass are teachers in the grades the students would be promoted to - fourth, seventh and ninth. This is an unusual and useful way to determine who is ready to move on, Peel said.
``I think that's very valuable,'' he said. Teachers in the receiving grades may not know a lot about where the kids are coming from, ``but they know what it takes to be successful at that level that they're moving to.''
The proposed policy means the summer school load could quadruple in 1996, Peel said, and the district will probably have to shift some money to meet costs. Some schools might see their individual intervention programs reduced to beef up the district-wide approach, he said.
But many of the policy's details have yet to be hammered out.
``I think we're going to use this in some modified way at the end of this year,'' Peel said.
First, he said, the district must consider questions like, ``how are we going to implement it, and what's fair?'' by CNB