Brownback's lousy 3rd grade retention idea gets held back
Barb ShellyAt least one of Gov. Sam Brownback’s very questionable ideas has been put on ice.
The Senate Education Committee, on a 6-5 vote, opposed the Governor’s proposal to make elementary students repeat the third grade if they aren’t reading at grade level.
Good for them. Brownback’s “Kansas Reads to Succeed Act,” which he announced as a key initiative at his State of the State speech, was meddlesome and flawed.
The goal of getting students up to grade level in reading by the fourth grade is a good one. But retention decisions should be left up to principals, teachers and parents.
Many educators believe making students repeat a grade does more harm than good.
Several years ago I interviewed Connie Campbell of Kansas City, an expert in reading education and psychology, about this very subject.
The time to intervene is long before third grade, she said. Whereas reading should be a pleasure for children, reading disabilities and difficulties make it a chore. It becomes punitive and boring. Forcing a student to repeat a grade because of a reading score can make the student resent the act of reading itself. It’s all part of a downward spiral.
As several educators told the Senate committee, ramping up early childhood education and summer school programs are better ways to improve elementary reading.
That said, Brownback’s “Read to Succeed Act” had some elements worth pursuing. It would have made funds available for diagnostic reading tests in the early grades, for instance, and offered fiscal incentives to schools with high reading scores.
But the part about mandatory retention is a stopper, and it’s good the committee saw it that way.
George Hunsucker
Northland
2 months, 2 weeks agoGood joke ms. shelly. Why KS should follow the KC example and “pass” students on and eventually “graduate” them as functional illiterates, graduating from an unaccredited school system. Or dropping out before they earn their “diploma”….
Your hatred of Brownback doesn’t even allow you to think that passing children on who cannot even read at grade level is somehow right and moral.
You libs are truly despicable ms. shelly…
Mark Hastert
2 months, 2 weeks ago“The goal of getting students up to grade level in reading by the fourth grade is a good one. But retention decisions should be left up to principals, teachers and parents”
….so much for the intrusion of big government into the lives of families. They don’t mind sticking their nose into individuals and families but stay away from corporations and billionaires. The veneer of conservative principles is very thin.
George Hunsucker
Northland
2 months, 2 weeks agoLet’s see….. Are our beloved “educators” doing their “job” when they “pass” students who are not even performing at grade level???
I guess this must be another one of those things you need to be a smart lib to understand. Getting a passing grade when you cannot pass the test—interesting concept libs!!!!!
Kent Mueller
2 months, 2 weeks agoWell, Barb says this is meddlesome and Mark says it is intrusive. But there is a problem with those statements. By the constitution of the state of Kansas, the state has the responsibility and authority for education in the state. That obviously doesn’t negate school administration on the local level.
What is meddlesome and intrusive in education is when the federal government, who has no practical authority to do so, gets involved with education on the local level. It’s interesting that liberals think that state involvement is intrusive, but not federal involvement. Especially, when the state government is charged with that responsibility and the federal government is not.
It’s also telling, Barb, that when you like part and dislike part of what a Republican has proposed, that you choose to trash the part you don’t like. You ridicule what you don’t like and wait till the next to last paragraph to say there are parts you like. That isn’t a good way to work together…
Mark Hastert
2 months, 2 weeks ago“By the constitution of the state of Kansas, the state has the responsibility and authority for education”
Ah you forgot the part that the Republicans are not so eager about…..funding education. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the goal I’m criticizing, it’s the method and the hypocrisy.