In October, when I was distracted by the intense politics of this crazy political season, the governor of Michigan signed a bill that I support completely.
That bill requires schools in Michigan take steps to insure students in the third grade reach third grade reading proficiency standards before being promoted to the fourth grade. That sounds so obvious.
Why shouldn’t children read at the third grade level before entering the fourth grade?
It also is actually crazy, but many educators oppose that idea. I was shocked to learn, when I was on the school board, that the Niles Community School District did not hold back a single kindergarten through eighth grade student about six years ago.
In discussions with former Niles Superintendent Richard Weigel about this very unusual situation, he tried to convince me that students who were held back suffered loss of esteem and didn’t do as well as students who were promoted along with their peers’ so-called “social promotion.” He talked about laboratory studies that supported his contention. Our conversation hit a snag, however, when I asked how social promotion would preclude some students from reaching the ninth grade unable to read. He had no argument that answered that question.
Dr. Weigel is a very educated man. He is also not impervious to reason and data, unlike some educators I have met. Those educators latch onto an educational fad until a more attractive fad arrives on scene.
He thought through the problem and re-instituted the existing school policy concerning students who are struggling to learn the necessary skills. No longer would students automatically pass from grade-to-grade regardless of what skills they had actually attained. He would also establish a remedial instruction called “Saturday Academy” for those who were not keeping up. Saturday Academy was approximately three hours of additional instruction on Saturdays.
I cannot leave this subject without one anecdote.
After Dr. Weigel disseminated his new policy against automatically promoting students, the principal of one of Niles’ schools came into Dr. Weigel’s office while I was there and asked, “How many students do you want me to hold back?” Only on very rare occasions has the stupidity of a question shocked me that much. I realized that at least one of the administrators didn’t understand his job at all. I did the only thing I could think to do: I got up and left Dr. Weigel’s office.
Presumably, that principal’s understanding of his responsibilities increased quickly. There are many social reasons that “social promotion” was popular among educators. The teachers did not have to explain why students did not attain the expected standards. Principals did not need to explain that, nor did they need to supervise teachers to ensure they were teaching to standards.
Parents liked social promotion because they thought their children were progressing satisfactorily. Of course, children liked it because there was no pressure. Everybody liked social promotion. But the problem remained that Niles’ children did well in relation to the rest of the state until about the third or fourth grade. Then our kids gradually lost their edge year-by-year on Michigan standardized tests versus the rest of the state until Niles was only average by high school.
That does not appear very bad unless you dig deeper. In 2015 to 2016, only 50 percent of Niles third graders were proficient in reading. That is bad.
There is no positive spin on that statistic. It means that half of Niles third graders entered the fourth grade unable to read at a third grade level. That is critical because instruction from the fourth grade and higher is presented mostly in writing and not orally from the teacher.
As I write this, the election hasn’t happened yet. Suddenly, I am more optimistic than I have been in over a year. No matter what happens in Washington with either terrible Trump or terrible Clinton, our children will have a better chance for success than before. The challenge now is to monitor your child’s progress yourself and take an active part in decisions about your child’s education. You are responsible for your children’s education.

Michael Waldron is a retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, who was born and raised in Niles. He previously served on the Niles Community School Board of Education. He can be reached at ml.waldron@sbcglobal.net.