Evansville Courier & Press
The question that cuts to the heart of the social promotion issue is this: What would the state do for third graders who would be held back because they lack adequate reading skills?
By all that is right in public education, children who cannot read at a third-grade level should not be allowed to advance to the fourth grade. It is beyond unfair to promote children who lack reading skills; it sets most of them up for failure throughout the remainder of their school years.
For that reason, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, in his State of the State address this past week, called for Indiana to end what are called "social promotions." That is, children are promoted to the next grade level, not because they are prepared to learn at that level, but because it keeps them with their age group.
It allows them to avoid the embarrassment of being held back, and yet, it sets them up for a lifetime of embarrassment, frustration, and failure if they complete their education without acquiring basic language arts skills needed for success in the real world.
On another level, social promotions allow those parents who may be bothered by such decisions to avoid embarrassment, as well, even though, truth told, the most conscientious parents, those who are aware of their children's struggles, will often voluntarily ask that their children be held back. There are too few of these parents, but they are the ones who set the example for what the Daniels' administration is attempting to do.
In fact, there seems to be widespread support in the Indiana Legislature for the idea of ending social promotions. Indeed, how could you argue in favor of advancing children through the grades without teaching them to read?
Daniels said it best: "Sending an illiterate child on to higher grades is unfair to the next teacher, damaging to our state's future, but cruelest of all, disastrous to the young life being blighted by that failure."
Under Senate Bill 258, third graders who fail the language arts portion of the ISTEP exam would be held back. Exemptions would be allowed for special needs students and those who are not primarily English speakers.
But there is that critical question we posed previously; if you hold these children back, what do you do during that year to best insure that they begin to catch up with fellow students who can read at their grade level?
Obviously, you give them special help, as the bill says. It would be difficult to leave the task to classroom teachers who are busy educating the next group of students coming into the third grade.
It seems to us that extra help would cost more money, something Indiana does not now have. It was only a few weeks ago that Daniels ordered a $300 million cut in state support for K-12 public education. The state Legislative Services Agency estimated that it would cost $49 million for schools to adequately provide remediation to these children.
Daniels countered that it should cost nothing to provide remediation, while state school chief Tony Bennett said schools should find a way to help without more money.
Because of that issue, the bill is in trouble. State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stands in the way, unconvinced that the bill's provisions could be carried out without spending money the state does not have. He suggested the administration do more research. We agree, but we hope it can be done fast, and a genuine solution found.
Of the state's 80,000 third graders, as many as 20,000 may need help learning to read. They need this legislation and the extra help.