BY GREG MARKLEY
OPINION —
In spring 1963, I was told I would have to take first grade a second time. A seven-year-old, I did not have a good overall grade to advance to second grade. This was in a strict Catholic grammar school. I enrolled two months before turning seven — that may have been a factor. I was precocious, seeking creative classes, not rote memorization. My parents sent me to a public school, hoping I might do better.
With a young, inspiring teacher, I became third-best student in the class. That fall, I watched four days of horror and a funeral after President Kennedy was assassinated. I dreamed of a journalism career. These memories resurfaced when I read the Alabama Literacy Act’s new promotion policy. It requires elementary students to read at grade-level or be “held back” as I did 60 years ago.
“Passing our students along when they are not reading at grade-level is doing them a major disservice,” wrote Gov. Kay Ivey in an opinion published statewide. “Recently, we have seen some discussion that if this promotion portion of the Literacy Act had been in effect last school year, more than 12,000 students would be subject to being held back. Further delaying the promotion policy cannot happen, and I will very firmly veto a delay if a bill reaches my desk.”
In 2022, she launched the Governor’s Turnaround Schools Initiative; aiming to transform low-performing schools, as well as the surrounding communities. Additional funding and targeted support were provided to fifteen schools chosen from all over Alabama.
The movie Running on Empty (1988) has an interesting twist: The parents are 1960s radicals changing addresses regularly. Their two boys would tell the school officials that they lost their education records in a fire. I don’t remember if they had to go through grades they already had, or if they took a test to advance a grade if they did very well on it.
“It’s hard to find research that supports retention,” said Nancy Bailey, a former teacher in special education who has a doctorate in Educational Leadership. “The American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association are just two organizations against using a single score to retain students. Researchers have combed through hundreds of students and indicate retention doesn’t work and is often harmful.”
Another reason Bailey gives for not keeping a student at the same grade is that, “Retailed students usually have behavior difficulties later.” She contends that “Most students who fail will harbor anger especially when they get to middle and high school.”
That may be true for most but certainly not for me after I passed first grade for good the next year.
People who know I was “kept back” ask if it was tough to stay back in first grade and lose respect from my childhood friends. Yes, it was; for a month they called me “dummy.” But, when I passed first grade, I got lots of respect. Later, I graduated from a high-quality parochial high school. It was rigorous intellectually. Not every child’s response to retention will be negative.
Suzanne Whitney is a research editor for Wrightslaw, a website that offers information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities. She provides in-depth information that can be used to stop class retention.
“Summer school might give the child more attention and a smaller, relaxed class setting, but they should get some vacation, too.”
Whitney advises checking the child’s life situation for personal problems such as an illness or divorce in the family, or a parent who lost a job. Other suggestions are to evaluate the child for learning disabilities and to lower class sizes. Teachers with fewer students can better address individual needs.
In September 1980, I was in the final week of my first experience with summer weath — in South Carolina. Three trainees from Rhode Island and I had already “touched all the bases” to graduate. The other recruit from RI struggled at the shooting range — then was declared ready to graduate. My friend from Liberia then hollered a phrase the five of us said often: “Five came together, five will graduate together.” Now, it was true.
That Army anecdote shows the power of teamwork. The best way for students to avoid staying in the same grade is to read, study and work to meet the standards.
“I am extremely hopeful we are headed in the right direction in Alabama,” Governor Ivey said after viewing the progress at J.E. Hobbs Elementary and ABC Elementary in her home of Wilcox County. All that’s needed are students who truly want to work to prevent “staying back” in a grade.
Greg Markley moved to Lee County in 1996. He has a master’s in education from AUM and a masters in history from Auburn University. He taught politics as an adjunct in Georgia and Alabama. An award-winning writer in the Army and civilian life, he has contributed to the Observer since 2011. He writes on politics, education, and books. gm.markley@charter.net