The Article

In this book chapter, MSU Distinguished Professor Jere Brophy examines what research tells us about the contentious issue of social promotion in K-12 schools.

Discussion

Social promotion is the policy of promoting students to the next grade level despite poor achievement at their current grade level. Brophy points out that the policy is usually studied and discussed “in comparison to its opposite: grade retention.” Such a policy is motivated by the belief that an extra year in the grade will give struggling students an opportunity to master content that they failed to master. Grade retention, Brophy writes, “was ascendant in the 1990s and the early 2000s, with Presidents Clinton and Bush, many state governors, and many state- and district-level policymakers calling for eliminating social promotion as part of their plan for reforming schools.” However, the research comparing retained students with similar students who were socially promoted repeatedly shows that most students do not catch up when held back. Brophy states that even if they do better at first, they fall behind again in later grades, and are more likely to become alienated from school and eventually drop out. “What typically happens is that administrators announce a ‘no social promotion’ policy with great fanfare, then over the next couple of years call attention to any data that appear to suggest that the policy is working … Later, however, when it becomes clear that too many students are being retained (some repeatedly) and the administrators are confronted with angry parents, frustrated teachers, upset students, and rising costs, they quietly begin to back off by lowering standards (i.e., the test scores that will be required to earn promotion to the next grade level) and by exempting certain categories of students from the policy … Eventually, they or the administrators who succeed them quietly drop the policy (without, of course, admitting that all of the problems that it created could have been foreseen if attention had been paid to the relevant research literature.)” If the choice is between social promotion and grade retention, Brophy finds that researchers typically conclude that, while neither is an effective treatment, social promotion is preferable.

What It Means To You

What is your view of grade retention versus social promotion? To Brophy, the research is clear: social promotion is the preferable of two rather ineffective policies. What policy does your district implement? Is that policy informed by relevant research? Has your district attempted to provide alternatives to helping struggling students, such as early identification and providing them with smaller classes, tutoring, and after-school and summer school programs?

For More Information

Brophy, J. (2002). Social promotion. In J. Guthrie (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Education, 2nd Edition. New York: Macmillan.
 

< back to 2003 ed-research reports