What if my child must repeat a grade?

By CAROLYN SANDLIN-SNIFFEN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 14, 2000

The phone call you've been dreading for weeks has come: Your child will have to repeat a grade.

Your spirit is crushed. What do you tell the grandparents, neighbors and friends? All kinds of pent-up emotions spew out. Anger . . . frustration . . . embarrassment.

After your anxiety eases, you must concentrate on how to help your child get back on track.

Retention is not a new concept. It was a common procedure until the 1970s, when schools tried alternative methods to help underachievers. Sadly, these methods often included a lowering of academic standards. Teachers watered down lessons, grades were inflated, textbook publishers produced materials with more pictures and easier-to-read text. Eventually the message went out to kids: there is no need to aim for excellence. You're going to pass anyway. The result? Public education was cheapened for everyone.

Today's teachers and parents know that sending children ahead without essential skills and knowledge dooms them for failure in the coming years.

Some schools will not keep a child back without the parents' permission. Other schools have clear-cut requirements: any student failing a certain number of subjects must repeat a year in school. Since the rules differ in elementary, middle and high school, you should know your school's policy.

When deciding whether or not to retain a child, the best guideline is this: hold back the child for whom something will be different next year -- such as different teachers, a different method of instruction, a different mix of classes and textbooks, a different regimen at home.

First, find out what skills and areas of knowledge are weak. Don't accept vague generalizations such as, "She is functioning below grade level." Ask to see work samples and test scores.

Once you've identified the deficiencies, try to determine the cause. Some kids get into academic trouble because they miss a lot of school. Sometimes family problems get in the way of schoolwork. Maybe there's an undiagnosed physical problem or learning disability. Also, never underestimate the weight of kids' emotional burdens. They may suffer from deep feelings of inferiority or rejection.

Keep in mind that repeating a grade isn't the end of the world, assuming it is handled supportively and positively by both the child's parents and the teachers.

Nowhere is it carved in stone that every 8-year-old must be in third grade, every 14-year-old in ninth. A child who is not mature enough to accept the responsibility expected at that level or doesn't have the skills to do the work is likely to fall further behind.

Next school year, be prepared to monitor your child's progress and study habits closely. Don't assume that repeating a grade will solve the problem. Your child's academic success depends on your support and encouragement. You can't expect better results without some changes.

Educators disagree on the pros and cons of retention. Some say that the retained child will forever see himself as a failure and sink to the level of that poor self-image. Others say that if you want to help a child who's falling behind in school develop a poor self-image, you need only to continue socially promoting him from grade to grade.

Each decision must be made on an individual basis, weighing the abilities and needs of the child. Parents and teachers need to work together by looking over previous report cards, examining scores on achievement tests and consulting the child's former teachers.

If there is one thing all educators can agree on, it's this: children will succeed in school when their parents are involved in their learning. Even excellent teachers cannot provide a good education without help from home. Stay deeply involved. It can make all the difference.

Carolyn Sandlin-Sniffen teaches language arts and reading at Seminole Middle School in Pinellas County.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.