Early in his tenure, MCS deputy superintendent of academic operations Irving Hamer identified one overarching problem plaguing the district.
Yes, the district suffers from high poverty rates, low graduation rates, myriad student migration, and sluggish test scores, and Hamer's problem — students overage for their grade level — is either a cause or an effect for all of those things.
In August, Hamer told the school board that by 12th grade, 22 percent of the district's students — more than a fifth — are overage.
About 9,000 are held back during elementary school, 7,000 get held back in middle school, and 10,000 are held back during high school.
In January, the district plans to begin MCS Prep Academy, a program for students 14 years old and older who are at least one year overage for their grade. In its initial stages, the academy will take 200 students from each region of the district.
Those 800 students — registration will begin December 11th, I hear, but I don't know exactly how the students will be chosen — will have an extended school day, go to school 11 months out of the year, have individualized learning plans, and receive accelerated credit accumulation.
The district hopes to enlarge the program for the 2009-2010 school year.
Showing posts with label overage students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overage students. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Age and Education
Memphis City Schools deputy superintendent of academic operations Irving Hamer calls 9,000 elementary students a "ticking bomb."
They are students who, during K-5, have already been held back by at least one grade.
"I can practically say categorically that these students do not graduate," Hamer told the MCS board at its most recent meeting.
Add to that the almost 7,000 students who get held back during middle school, and the almost 10,000 that get held back in high school, and the district is looking at 22 percent of its students being overage by the time they reach 12th grade.
Hamer, who arrived at the district 10 days ago, has a plan to recruit 2,000 college students to improve literacy among overage students. Once reading skills improve, the district would follow up with a summer reading clinic for those same students.
They didn't go into it last night, but I assume those same overage children also pose a challenge to school safety and security.
MCS might be looking at students who have been held back because of academic achievement but, across the nation, the age of children in schools has gotten older, mostly because they are starting school later. A recently released study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that 40 years ago, 96 percent of six-year-olds were in first grade or above. In 2005, only 84 percent of those children were in first grade or above.
Conventional wisdom tells parents to hold younger students back in kindergarten, especially if they are small for their age or are boys. Some schools, with a nod to high stakes testing, think the extra year gives students a better chance to meet federal benchmarks.
But that might not be the case. From the study's abstract:
"The relatively late start of boys in primary school explains a small but significant portion of the rising gender gaps in high school graduation and college completion. Increases in the age of legal school entry intensify socioeconomic differences in educational attainment, since lower-income children are at greater risk of dropping out of school when they reach the legal age of school exit."
They are students who, during K-5, have already been held back by at least one grade.
"I can practically say categorically that these students do not graduate," Hamer told the MCS board at its most recent meeting.
Add to that the almost 7,000 students who get held back during middle school, and the almost 10,000 that get held back in high school, and the district is looking at 22 percent of its students being overage by the time they reach 12th grade.
Hamer, who arrived at the district 10 days ago, has a plan to recruit 2,000 college students to improve literacy among overage students. Once reading skills improve, the district would follow up with a summer reading clinic for those same students.
They didn't go into it last night, but I assume those same overage children also pose a challenge to school safety and security.
MCS might be looking at students who have been held back because of academic achievement but, across the nation, the age of children in schools has gotten older, mostly because they are starting school later. A recently released study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that 40 years ago, 96 percent of six-year-olds were in first grade or above. In 2005, only 84 percent of those children were in first grade or above.
Conventional wisdom tells parents to hold younger students back in kindergarten, especially if they are small for their age or are boys. Some schools, with a nod to high stakes testing, think the extra year gives students a better chance to meet federal benchmarks.
But that might not be the case. From the study's abstract:
"The relatively late start of boys in primary school explains a small but significant portion of the rising gender gaps in high school graduation and college completion. Increases in the age of legal school entry intensify socioeconomic differences in educational attainment, since lower-income children are at greater risk of dropping out of school when they reach the legal age of school exit."
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