An Evaluation of Florida's Program To End Social Promotion. Education Working Paper No. 7.
Saved in:
| Title: | An Evaluation of Florida's Program To End Social Promotion. Education Working Paper No. 7. |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Greene, Jay P., Winters, Marcus A., Manhattan Inst., New York, NY. Center for Civic Innovation. |
| Source: | Center for Civic Innovation. 2004. |
| Availability: | Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY, 10017. Web site: http://www.manhattan-institute.org. |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 24 |
| Publication Date: | 2004 |
| Document Type: | Numerical/Quantitative Data Reports - Evaluative |
| Descriptors: | Grade 4, Grade 3, Standardized Tests, Reading Tests, Achievement Gains, State Standards, Social Promotion, Comparative Analysis, Educational Policy, Grade Repetition |
| Abstract: | Nine states and three of the nation's biggest cities have adopted mandates intended to end "social promotion"? promoting students to the next grade level regardless of their academic proficiency. These policies require students in certain grades to reach a minimum benchmark on a standardized test in order to move on to the next grade. Florida, Texas, and seven other states, as well as the cities of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, have adopted mandatory promotion tests; these school systems encompass 30% of all U.S. public-school students. Proponents of such policies claim that students must possess basic skills in order to succeed in higher grades, while opponents argue that holding students back discourages them and only pushes them further behind. This study uses individual-level data provided by the Florida Department of Education to evaluate the initial effects of Florida's policy requiring students to reach a minimum threshold on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to be promoted to the 4th grade. It examines the gains made in one year on math and reading tests by all Florida 3rd graders in the first cohort subject to the retention policy who scored below the necessary threshold, comparing them to all Florida 3rd graders in the previous year with the same low test scores, for whom the policy was not yet in force. Because some students subject to the policy obtained special exemptions and were promoted, the study also uses an instrumental regression analysis to separately measure the effects of actually being retained. The study measures gains made by students on both the high-stakes FCAT and the Stanford-9, a nationally respected standardized test that is also administered to all Florida students, but with no stakes tied to the results. |
| Abstractor: | Author |
| Number of References: | 6 |
| Entry Date: | 2005 |
| Accession Number: | ED483340 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Nine states and three of the nation's biggest cities have adopted mandates intended to end "social promotion"? promoting students to the next grade level regardless of their academic proficiency. These policies require students in certain grades to reach a minimum benchmark on a standardized test in order to move on to the next grade. Florida, Texas, and seven other states, as well as the cities of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, have adopted mandatory promotion tests; these school systems encompass 30% of all U.S. public-school students. Proponents of such policies claim that students must possess basic skills in order to succeed in higher grades, while opponents argue that holding students back discourages them and only pushes them further behind. This study uses individual-level data provided by the Florida Department of Education to evaluate the initial effects of Florida's policy requiring students to reach a minimum threshold on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to be promoted to the 4th grade. It examines the gains made in one year on math and reading tests by all Florida 3rd graders in the first cohort subject to the retention policy who scored below the necessary threshold, comparing them to all Florida 3rd graders in the previous year with the same low test scores, for whom the policy was not yet in force. Because some students subject to the policy obtained special exemptions and were promoted, the study also uses an instrumental regression analysis to separately measure the effects of actually being retained. The study measures gains made by students on both the high-stakes FCAT and the Stanford-9, a nationally respected standardized test that is also administered to all Florida students, but with no stakes tied to the results. |
|---|
