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Ending Social Promotion Without Leaving Children Behind
The Case of New York City
Many states and school districts are implementing test-based requirements for promotion at key transitional points in students' schooling careers, thus ending the practice of “social promotion” — promoting students who have failed to meet academic standards and requirements for that grade. In 2003–2004, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), which oversees the largest public school system in the country, implemented a new test-based promotion policy for 3rd-grade students and later extended it to 5th, 7th, and 8th graders. The policy emphasized early identification of children at risk of being retained in grade and provision of instructional support services to these students. NYCDOE asked RAND to conduct an independent longitudinal evaluation of the 5th-grade promotion policy and to examine the outcomes for two cohorts of 3rd-grade students. The findings of that study, conducted between March 2006 and August 2009, provide a comprehensive picture of how the policy was implemented and factors affecting implementation; the impact of the policy on student academic and socioemotional outcomes; and the links between the policy's implementation and the outcomes of at-risk students. Two other publications in this series provide a review of the prevailing literature on retention and lessons learned about policy design from top-level administrators across the country.
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Paperback Cover Price: $37.00
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Pages: 308
ISBN/EAN: 9780833047786
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Contents
Chapter One:
Introduction
Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, and Louis T. Mariano
Chapter Two:
What We Know About the Effects of Grade Retention and Implementation of Promotion Policies
Nailing Xia and Sheila Nataraj Kirby
Chapter Three:
Context and Conceptual Framework for Understanding New York City's Promotion Policy
Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Julie A. Marsh, and Catherine DiMartino
Chapter Four:
Data and Methods
Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Louis T. Mariano, and Jennifer Sloan McCombs
Chapter Five:
School-Provided Support for Students: Academic Intervention Services
Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Scott Naftel, Gina Schuyler Ikemoto, Catherine DiMartino, and Daniel Gershwin
Chapter Six:
Implementation of the Policy: Saturday and Summer Schools
Gina Schuyler Ikemoto, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Catherine DiMartino, and Scott Naftel
Chapter Seven:
Performance of 5th Graders in New York City and Overall Performance Trends in New York State
Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Scott Naftel, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Daniel Gershwin, and Al Crego
Chapter Eight:
Measuring the Effect of Supportive Interventions on Proximal-Year Student Achievement
Louis T. Mariano, Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Al Crego, and Claude Messan Setodji
Chapter Nine:
Future Outcomes of Students at Risk of Retention
Louis T. Mariano, Sheila Nataraj Kirby, and Al Crego
Chapter Ten:
The Impact of New York City's Promotion Policy on Students' Socioemotional Status
Vi-Nhuan Le, Louis T. Mariano, and Al Crego
Chapter Eleven:
Conclusions and Policy Implications
Sheila Nataraj Kirby, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, and Louis T. Mariano
Appendix A:
Technical Appendix for Achievement Models
Appendix B:
Supporting Data for Chapter Five
Appendix C:
Supporting Data for Chapter Seven
Appendix D:
Supporting Data for Chapter Ten
Appendix E:
Data and Analyses for 3rd-Grade Cohorts
The research described in this report was prepared for the New York City Department of Education and conducted within RAND Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation.
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