Rebroadcast of Episode 028 Is it Time to Stop Promoting Social Promotion? with BETTER audio

When initially released, the audio volume was sooooo low that listeners had to turn the sound way up even to hear it and then got their ears blasted when the interlude music played. I'm sure that was annoying enough to cause people to stop listening, which is a shame because there is a lot of great information in this episode! So I decided to figure out how to correct the audio so that one can listen at a reasonable volume minus the frustration. I'm happy to announce that I was successful! I hope you will give this episode another go because the topic is definitely one that needs attention, especially since the reports coming from the latest NAEP tests are so dismal.

According to an article in the New York Times, "This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years. " This begs the question, What do we do now? Promote these kids to the next grade, or do we retain them to catch up? 

I don't think there's any one good answer. We just need to figure out what protocols will give students the most bang for the taxpayer's buck. Why do we look at 9-year-olds' scores so closely? Well, they are third graders. That is the year when education makes a massive shift, from learning to read to reading to learn. If students are not at grade level by the end of the third grade, they tend to struggle to catch up, if they catch up at all.

Listen and see where you stand on this issue. Then leave us a comment or answer the poll questions to give your opinion. We'd also love feedback on how were are doing and what you'd like to hear us discuss. This show is nothing without our listeners!!

Thanks again for taking the time to listen. We are appreciative of every set of ears that lends itself here. If I could ask a giant favor, can you please forward this episode (or any of our fantastic episodes) to at least one friend you feel might benefit? That is the best way to get our podcast out to a bigger audience. 

To read the show notes that originally accompanied this podcast, go back to your feed or visit TransparencyinTeaching.com.