Nancy McCallion is a third-grade teacher at Henry Elementary School in the Tucson Unified School District.

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As a third-grade teacher with seven years of public- and private-school experience, and 11 years as a substitute teacher in Grades K-12 in the Tucson Unified School District, I've been following the Star's articles on social promotion and the relationship between AIMS tests and classroom grades with much interest.

Several experts weighed in with reasons for social promotion, from lazy teachers, to pressure from the district, to wanting children to feel good about themselves.

All these examples may hold some truth, but one reason was not cited: Teachers promote students because they don't think retention will help them succeed.

Retained students are returned to the same course of study in the same traditional classroom environment that was unable to meet their needs in the first place.

Failing students are failing for a reason. Be it because of learning disabilities or emotional or behavioral problems, they are unable to succeed in the crowded, traditional classroom.

What we need here is not legislation to force teachers to retain students, nor more high paid accountability experts to conduct lengthy and expensive studies.

What we need are warm bodies in the classrooms: aides to monitor one group of students while teachers work with struggling students; tutors to provide one-on-one help for students who are too distracted to focus in a large group setting; high school students in need of community service to listen to a struggling reader.

It is particularly disconcerting that the AIMS test be considered as a sole means to determine retention or promotion.

The AIMS test, while it may be a useful tool in conjunction with other assessments, is not the end all in judging a student's achievement.

Struggling students are the first to balk at page after page of questions and bubble sheets. I've seen students who I know could have answered the questions randomly bubble in answers just to finish because they're overwhelmed with the task before them. For these students, shorter tests spread out over a period of time would provide a more effective assessment of their abilities.

We pride ourselves on being an individualistic society, but this is not reflected in our education system. Teachers are told to individualize instruction to help struggling and advanced students alike, and yet our assessments are of a one-size-fits-all nature.

Struggling students need attention and focused instruction to help them grasp the material.

Conversely, bright students need to be challenged, as they often sit bored, waiting for slower students to learn material they've already mastered.

The answer is in numbers: smaller classes, more tutors and more adults in the classroom. This is where we need to put our education dollars.

Perhaps the Star could do some research on how many $10-an-hour teachers' aides could be hired with what we pay out to accountability departments and standardized testing companies.