Effects of a Major Intervention on Retained Third Grade Students Success or Failure - Essay Example

Does this lawmandatory retention hurt or benefit struggling readers This paper begins to explore that particular kind of retention coupled with a major intervention i.e. Third Grade Model Classroom will have a long term positive effect on student achievement. Retention has become a familiar word with major consequences for students who have encountered academic deficiencies. It has been ongoing since the 1970s, and is the education sector's response to academic deficiencies. For most students, the experience of repeating a grade or level, even if it means failure to comply with the requirements of only one subject, is a dreadful experience.

However, the unnerving experience is not only the burden of the student, but of the family as well. Not only does retention imply a student's academic inaptitude, it also reflects on his / her family's lack of academic support and assistance for the child. Retention, therefore, is deemed as a consequence, if not a punishment, for its grave academic and socio-economic consequences. However, it is not new. Retention has been in place for decades.The idea of retention instills fear to student, and fear, undoubtedly, is powerful.

Perhaps, this is why the education sector has deemed it effective and thus, the system has been going on for decades. It became reached its pinnacle of debate a strongly discussed topic across the country when in 1996, the Chicago Public School district implemented the end of social promotion, where students are allowed to pass from grade to grade, despite not being able to meet the required academic standards. The word "social" is important to note as it implies that the reasons for such promotions are often done for social and psychological well-being of the student (U.

S Department of Education, 1999) - and this is in consideration of the fear that retention, the other option, imposes. . Since 2002, the state of Florida, along with other states, has ended social promotion for third grade students who have garnered a below proficiency rating in Reading (see appendix A). To dateAs of Janurary 2006, thousands of third graders have been retained, spending another school year in the third grade instead of being allowed to the next level. On the contrary, there is a substantial body