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Last Updated: 03/11/2005
The Rockbridge Report is produced
under the supervision of the Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications
at Washington and Lee University.
Reporting supervisors: Prof. Doug Cumming
Technical supervisor:
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The Virginia Department of Education's take on grade retention Information from Charles Pyle, Director of Communication for the Virginia Department of Education The decision on whether or not a student is retained is a local decision, so the Department of Education is not involved on a student-to-student basis. Nonetheless, Virginia has standards for what students should know and be able to do for each grade level, and some students benefit when they are held back for a year. Charles Pyle, Director of Communication for the Virginia Department of Education, said that this is especially true when students are held back in elementary school. He said grade retention should be used not as a punitive measure, but rather as a measure to make sure students are competent enough with the material in order to succeed in the next grade level. Pyle said that schools want to make sure students know and can do the things that they are supposed to before they move on. This can be done through extra work in the classroom, tutoring over the summer, or by repeating a grade. He said the objective is to make sure that when students do move forward, they are proficient in areas such as reading and computations. "You don't want to promote children just to move them through the system," Pyle said. How can parents help? Information from Cindy Crance -- Director of Instruction for Rockbridge County Schools
Information gathered by Tiffany Todd |