| Social promotion and retention surfaced in the public eye at the end of the 1990s when President Clinton, at his State of the Union Address, called for the end of social promotion. The result was that states passed laws mandating the end of social promotion and allowing districts to write policies for retention. In California, effective January 1999, under, Assembly Bill 1626 AB 1639 and Senate Bill 1370 delineated requirements for pupil promotion and retention policies. This legislation summarized a promotion process based on student attainment of grade-level content standards.;Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand previous research regarding retention and social promotion and it will attempt to define the attitudes of teachers in the Lynwood Unified School District. The researcher will answer the following research questions: (1) Do teachers in the Lynwood Unified School District feel that retention and/or social promotion are commonly practiced throughout the school district? (2) What are the teachers in the Lynwood unified school district attitudes toward social promotion and/retention? (3) What have teachers done to improve student achievement in low performing schools?;The researcher performed a pilot study that is designed to test logistics and gather information prior to a larger study, in order to develop the latter's quality and efficiency. The researcher surveyed the 12 elementary schools within the Lynwood Unified School District for the study.;Results from this study show that teachers have a favorable preference for grade retention of students since teachers feel that students benefit from "extra" time to master the standards that they are lacking. More targeted interventions are needed to prevent students from retention.;Originally, the implication of this study was to revise Lynwood Unified School District's Promotion and Retention Policy. The researcher will attempt to prove to the District that teachers need training on retention and provide them with tools that will prevent students from being retained as well as creating a pre-first grade class for students who are retained in Kindergarten. It will cost money, so the researcher is not convinced that the idea will solidify in uncertain economic times. |
