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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.12.2008
More than 18,000 Tucson-area students were promoted last year despite failing at least one core course in math, English, science or social studies.
However, some schools with large discrepancies between promotion and failure rates — defined by educators as a sign of social promotion — performed at or above standard in the state's accountability system. Others struggled with decreasing enrollment when they retained students who failed.
Compounding the dilemma is evidence that grade inflation also occurs in local schools, meaning even fewer students actually may be succeeding.
Two Tucson-area middle and high schools have taken different approaches to social promotion, and their successes and struggles illustrate the dilemma many schools face: Is it better to promote underachieving students, or retain them and risk higher dropout rates, low student self-esteem and disciplinary problems?
Cholla Magnet High School
Cholla Magnet High School showed the largest discrepancy between failure and retention rates among high schools in 2006-07. About 55 percent of students failed one or more core courses, but 5 percent were retained, an Arizona Daily Star investigation shows.
Still, Cholla received a performing-plus label in the state's accountability system, known as Arizona LEARNS.
The reason for the success may be the variety of intervention and remediation classes offered by the Tucson Unified School District and the school, though Cholla officials deny socially promoting students.
Cholla instituted a credit- recovery program this year for seniors who need to make up credits to graduate. But the school has always done everything it could to keep students from failing and dropping out, said George Joe, a dropout-prevention specialist.
"We can't reach every child, but for the child we can't reach, we try to place them in a TUSD alternative high school," he said.
TUSD has more than a dozen alternative-education programs, including weekend and evening academies that let students make up credits during the year. It also has a distance-learning program to allow students to finish schoolwork at home, at their own pace.
Joe has been in his job at Cholla for about a decade and also graduated from the school in 1980. His goal is to keep students at his alma mater.
"If I can't get the kid back into Cholla, I not only failed that kid," he said, "I failed myself."
Desert View High School
Desert View High School, in the Sunnyside Unified School District, has taken a much stricter approach toward which students are promoted.
Almost 60 percent of students received one or more F's in core classes in 2006-07, and the school retained 39 percent of them, the largest percentage among traditional high schools in the Star analysis.
Desert View still received a performing label but has struggled with decreases in enrollment and high dropout rates.
More than 7 percent of students dropped out of the school in 2006-07, according to the Arizona Department of Education. In comparison, Cholla had a 1.8 percent dropout rate.
Desert View administrators say school policy precludes promoting students who fail — its 21-percentage-point difference between students who fail core classes and students who are retained puts it among the best third of traditional high schools the Star analyzed.
"You have to earn a certain number of credits to be promoted to the next grade. If the credits are not earned, the students remain in that grade until they earn the credits," said Carmela Levy, assistant principal of curriculum and instruction.
The approach, however, hasn't necessarily meant success.
Almost 670 freshmen enrolled at the school in 2005-06, but the next year's sophomore class had only 435 students.
The lack of intervention programs and support for freshmen have contributed to the academic failure, said N.J. Utter, a Sunnyside secondary-curriculum and instruction specialist.
"Unfortunately, we've been in situations where a student might mess up in their freshman and sophomore year and have had limited opportunities for credit recovery," the former Desert View counselor said.
The school implemented credit-recovery classes this year and an academy to help incoming freshmen. Some students say they've benefited already.
Senior Annalisa Vidal, 17, is taking a social-studies class. If she passes it, she said, she'll graduate on time.
"I kind of lagged off. I didn't focus on school," she said. "I finally realized in my junior year I didn't have all my credits."
Sierra Middle School
Sierra Middle School, also in Sunnyside, showed among the largest rates of middle-school social promotion, with 51 percent of students failing one or more core classes in 2006-07 and a 6 percent retention rate the same year.
Sierra also has been labeled a performing school.
Teachers and administrators say they do all they can to help students who fall behind.
Sierra's intervention efforts include a variety of tutoring programs before and after school and during the weekend. Students who fail AIMS — or regular math and English classes — take an AIMS intervention class the following school year to relearn basic skills.
Eighth-graders who fail classes are referred to the district's summer LEAP program — which stands for Language ! and Algebra Preparation.
School counselors visit the homes of incoming sixth-graders during summer to help families prepare for the transition to middle school.
Failure rates persist, though, and officials blame various obstacles, including those created by large numbers of student transfers and socioeconomic issues. Of 1,000 students at Sierra, 837 receive free or reduced-price lunch, officials said.
Still, some of the students who have failed classes have been able to get the support they need to move to the next level.
Gabriela Galaz,15, was failing three classes and on the verge of repeating eighth grade last year at Sierra. Then she took a math class via the LEAP program.
"I was just really down because I didn't want to stay back," she said. "When I went to summer school, I think a light switch went off in my head. I didn't want to be in that position again."
Galaz is now a freshman at Sunnyside High School, though she has struggled to maintain her C average.
Sahuarita Middle School
Sahuarita Middle School, in the Sahuarita Unified School District, showed one of the lowest rates of social promotion among middle schools in the analysis, with almost 6 percent of students failing one or more core classes versus a 2 percent retention rate in 2006-07.
Sahuarita has received a highly performing label.
The school relies on accountability and constant communication among teachers, students and parents.
Teachers send home mid-term grade reports every quarter and inform students of their grades every two weeks, Assistant Principal Carol Salica said.
"We have told students, 'You will not be promoted unless you've earned it,' and we hold them accountable," Salica said.
Teachers start identifying failing students as early as October, and parents sign retention notifications if their child is failing at least one subject.
"If they get an F in October and you don't hold them accountable, what will happen in March?" she asked.
The middle school shares a campus with three of the district's other schools, including Sahuarita High School, which allows teachers to collaborate.
High-school teachers give their middle-school counterparts a "wish list" of what they want the younger students to learn, Salica said.
Seventh-grader Mark Riesgo, 13, has attended three different schools, and he said Sahuarita Middle School stands out.
"It's not boring like other schools," he said. "They make teaching fun."
● Contact reporter Jamar Younger at 434-4076 or at jyounger@azstarnet.com.
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