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Schools promote students despite widespread failureGrade inflation adds to woes, especially in middle schoolsEarly intervention strategies can help students succeedSTAR INVESTIGATION: Schools promote students despite widespread failureLinks to local, state and national documents 42 schools fail fed assessment Amphi must share info parents, taxpayers need Star Investigation: Students advance despite failing gradesStar Investigation: Students advance despite failing gradesSchools try varied ways to keep kids on course

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A 10-month Star investigation found evidence that students in local public school districts are passed along from grade to grade even though they fail core academic classes as well as the state's standardized AIMS test.

The investigation was comprehensive and included all major local districts except Amphitheater Public Schools. The findings give a macro view of a problem that many teachers, parents and community members felt was going on for years: that kids are being promoted to the next grade even though they fail classes.

The result is that kids go from elementary to middle school, then middle to high school, and then high school to real life without adequate preparation. They become workers who can't make change or write a business letter, or college students who find they can't pass placement tests and have to take remedial math or writing classes.

Seeing the reality of social promotion in plain daylight is painful. But now that we know how pervasive the challenge is, we can get to work on fixing it.

The difficulty, of course, is how to undo a system that is so ingrained. Teachers report that their recommendations to hold a student back are sometimes undercut by school administrators or the child's parents — and there is evidence to suggest that retaining a student doesn't work in the long run. Simply repeating the same class with the same teacher and same educational techniques may improve things in the short term, but it won't help the child in the future.

There is no uniform solution that will apply to everyone, but throughout the investigation Star reporters found programs and techniques that did work — programs like Hawk Time at Hohokam Middle School in the Tucson Unified School District.

Throughout their middle-school years, small groups of students would be assigned to a particular teacher or staff member who would help with homework, spend time getting to know them individually and making a connection with the student's family. The program ended when funding ran out. But these are the kind of innovative programs that can forge a personal bond, even within a large middle school, that help to keep kids on track.

Some schools offer split-grade classes, where students in two grades share the same teacher and classroom, often because of student numbers and space. But it makes sense to investigate options and focus on students' mastery of material rather than the grade level. In a split-grade class, students can get the help they need without the stigma of being held back a grade.

Tucson-area districts need to be willing to hold students accountable and not promote kids who aren't ready for the next grade, but they also must be creative in how they accommodate those students.

Teachers can't be afraid to examine their own techniques, too, and find new ways to share information with students. Parents must also reinforce the message that education is paramount and slacking off isn't acceptable.

Widespread social promotion won't stop overnight, but the knowledge gained through the Star investigation should push the community to examine what's going on in schools and take action to make it right.