Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools chief Joel Klein (two men who've been at the point of Gadfly's rapier wit more than once) declared that they would hold back third-graders who fail the state's standardized exam. But only after the second failure, and only after the students take summer school for six weeks - and an appeals process will be built in to the plan. For this, Klein and Bloomberg were pilloried by the press, teachers' unions, and parents' groups. Diane Ravitch also expressed reservations. But we agree with the Daily News editorialist: What is the alternative? Students who score below proficiency on the state's tests at eight years old are at best heading toward a rocky educational future. Does anyone truly believe that passing them to the next grade without intervention will bring them up to proficiency? And what does it say to students who are proficient and deserve to pass? How would passing their unprepared classmates honor their achievement? No one likes holding back students. But clich??d as it is, the old parental nostrum is true: it really is for their own good.
"Tweak to 3rd-grade plan is appealing," by Celeste Katz, New York Daily News, February 12, 2004
"Parents flunk Mike's no-promotion plan," by Carl Campanile and David Seifman, New York Post, February 11, 2004
"Advocates of failure must be defeated," New York Daily News, editorial, February 17, 2004