Social promotion or retention? Neither
Double-promote the better students
I see that the debate over social promotion versus retention in primary education has not been resolved. The pandemic disruptions exacerbated the problem, but the talking points have not changed: Opponents of retention say it harms students’ psychosocial development and self-esteem, while opponents of social promotion say it allows students to coast through their school years without ever learning what they need to know.
Here’s a possible solution to the dilemma: greatly increase double-promotion of above-average students (not just the gifted).
Schools could design the K-8 curriculum with more built-in overlap of the material taught from year to year, and then double-promote the best 30% or so of the students. In effect, the bottom 70% would be repeating at least a year’s worth of material, but since they technically wouldn't be failing a grade, and they’d be in the same position as most of their classmates, they presumably wouldn't suffer the loss of self-esteem that goes with "flunking".
For example, the essential material presented in the second half of 3rd grade could be repeated in the first half of 4th grade, and the essential material presented in the second half of 4th grade could be repeated in the first half of 5th grade (the non-essential material could be different to keep students from getting bored). That way, the 30% who skipped 4th grade wouldn't miss anything essential. Of the lower 70% who get the same stuff twice, the middling students would probably benefit from the review, and the poor students would have a chance to catch up.
So, to restate the example schematically, suppose students need to learn topics C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L, whatever those might be, before finishing grade 5. The topics might be presented as follows:
Grade 2: topics C, D, E, F
Grade 3: topics E, F, G, H
Grade 4: topics G, H, I, J
Grade 5: topics I, J, K, L
Students who skipped grade 3 or 4 would still study all of C-L. Students who did not skip would get E-J twice.
Those who skip an elementary grade might go on to graduate from high school at 17, but that’s not a bad thing.
K-8 teachers or other interested parties, what do you think of this idea?