Last night, the Panel for Educational Policy voted to approve, in an 11-1 vote, the end of social promotion for eighth graders in public schools. This means eighth graders who fail core classes or do poorly on standardized test will not be able to move onto high school.
The board is made up of eight appointees (there are currently one seven) from Mayor Bloomberg and one from each borough president; Manhattan representative Patrick Sullivan dissented, saying, "There’s no reason to wait for kids to fail and then keep them in the same environment for another useless year." Many parents and officials agree, saying that held-back students would be tempted to not go to high school at all. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. had previously said the vote was premature, because the city's plan doesn't explain how students will be helped.
One woman whose eight grandchildren are in the public school system told the panel, "You are just punishing students for the failure of their schools." But later on, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein asked, "What good does it do our students if we're sending them wholly unprepared into a high school environment?"
Back in 2004, Bloomberg proposed the end of social promotion for third graders. Right before the panel voted, he fired two appointees and, per NYC Public School Parents blog, "appointed two high level officials of the Health and Hospitals agency and the Housing Authority, who sit on the Panel to this day, neither one saying a word except to vote yes for every single administration proposal."
