When Will We Move Away From Retention?

 

Recently, I had the most amazing planning session with teachers discussing their selected articles and resources for classroom instruction and how to best utilize explicit instruction to ensure all students are grasping the concepts. These types of daily interactions fill me with some hope and joy for our Teachers and the Students they teach (capitalized for emphasis)!

However, on Friday, I received a letter that left me frustrated and deeply annoyed, because it was an explanation of possible retention for my Autistic Child that didn't pass the state assessment. My Child is currently accomplishing more than we ever imagined possible after her diagnosis. She was once a screamer and table hider. As one of her administrators during this time, it was terrifying for her and frustrating for me. Excitedly, thanks to the dedication of some pretty amazing Teachers & Para Support Staff, she is now speaking, reading, writing, and trying to lead math sessions (believe it or not). She is not on grade level but each day she is growing leaps and bounds with explicit, systematic instruction. Her growth can't be limited by a yearly calendar. To do this is to miss her bigger life story. Her instruction began in Developmental PreSchool and continues today, thankfully, due to her amazing IEP Coordinator and determined 2nd Grade Teacher. 

When I opened her state testing results, she scored higher than I initially believed possible although it wasn't the score needed for passing. The horrifying statement was the threat of retention if she doesn't hit the mark by the end of summer (yes, she will have two more chances to pass this summer). As this has been provided as the answer once again for students that struggle, I've been reading, questioning, and researching. I'm by no means an expert on the subject (I'd love to hear from those that are), but as a Mother with a Child that has fought bigger battles than most adults do in a lifetime, I want some skin in the game. It was interesting to read that  “fail to demonstrate that grade retention provides greater benefits to students with academic or adjustment difficulties than does promotion to the next grade."  In this same article, I found: A 2017 analysis of student outcomes under this system found that kids who were retained had big initial gains in achievement. But within five years, the score increases faded out, and these students weren’t doing any better than their same-age peers. 

While no one seems to have an answer, while attending Laura Stewarts' session on Courage to Lead and new Science of Reading Literacy implementation, she noted that it takes 2-4 years for systems and structures to show success. This left me wondering about all of the students in need of systems and structures that support school trainings and teacher knowledge -- and have we allowed enough time for this to happen since this major shift in literacy instruction? I definitely do not have all of the answers, but I do know that my Child needs her current peer group that has supported and provided friendships. "She will make new friends" and "children are resilient and they adjust" are often the things said in response, which makes me wonder why so many adults are in need of therapy due to childhood. Perhaps resilience isn't the answer either. 

For the here and now, I am grateful for a school that provides explicit, systematic instruction in literacy. I'm hopeful they will see the results of their teacher knowledge and training and instructional integrity in the long-term, as Laura suggests. What are the best things that we can do for our students that have this new doom & gloom time clock imposed on them? Great question! Here are three items to reflect on for your school:

1. Explicit and Systematic Phonics Instruction?

• Teach letter-sound relationships clearly and sequentially.
• Use multimodal techniques (see it, hear it, say it, write it).
• Focus on phonemic awareness (blending, segmenting, manipulating sounds).

2. Structured Reading Practice with Support? 

• Fix Your MTSS! Join us for this one day session with Stephanie Stollar in West Lafayette. 
• Implement instruction to meet students' needs (see Stephanie Stollar's Facebook page for videos on Tier 1 instruction). 
• Learn everything you can about explicit instruction in all content areas.
• Encourage repeated reading to build fluency and connection to reading complex texts. We recently had a phenomenal session with Jan Hasbrouck on how to make this happen!
• Use audiobooks or text-to-speech tools for struggling readers to follow along with the text.

3. Vocabulary & Comprehension Strategies

• Teach word meaning through context clues, explicit instruction, and word maps, etc
• Use visual organizers like graphic organizers to break down ideas. I love the Top Down Web from Keys to Literacy!
• Encourage summarization and questioning to boost comprehension. Paragraph Shrinking is an awesome strategy!