Credit Recovery: A mentor of mine, while running another private boarding school, shared about a transcript she read giving credit for Puppetry and Yoyoing. Needless to say, was the credit legitimate? Or nonsense? Did the former school's registrar realize it might raise an eyebrow or two? Or was the class credit for attendance and no work? The boarding school did not recognize this credit, until they decided to put it in the Electives category on the transcript.
In running a school, I see similarities to my friend's situation (over 10 years ago). Most anything qualifies as Life Skills, Creative Problem Solving, or Healthy Choices. The challenge to the student and family is this--does this credit push a student through the system without gaining from it? In other words, is it worth getting caught up to grade level using hollow credits vs. using summer classes or an alternative? Is the school and family just kicking the ball down the road only to deal with the lack of knowledge/skills later in high school (or college)? Or is it too painful to repeat a grade and have the child cope with feeling behind and ostracized?
Social Promotion: Keith...off his meds...8th grade...inner city of St. Louis...0 to 100 in 3 seconds. With 45 kids in a classroom, there was no way anyone was going to flunk Keith. The system wasn't designed for it. It was made to move him to the next grade...get away...let another set of teachers deal with him.
This is not uncommon. How much time, strategy, and resources do you devote when results are few and far between? Is it worth giving next year's teacher a chance vs. holding a kid back? Do you give the student passing grades and hand him off to the next school year? Social promotion is keeping the student on grade level (age-wise) without the student earning the credit or skills needed to move from freshman year to sophomore, for example.
What resources are available--summer school? An alternative program? Or just hoping a teacher stays after school to work one-on-one with the student? Or is cognition and ability compromised to the level that the student earns credit with the goal of using Vocational Rehabilitation to find a job at 18?
What experience have you had with this situation? What solutions have worked to get a student caught up and on grade level? Please share your insight!
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