Murky rules governed promotions
Ever since I wrote a story about black children being promoted to something called the “high first,” rather than the second grade, I am left wondering what criteria were used to hold those students back.
Since the “high first” seems only to have been used in the three
Negro schools in High Point, I would like to know if it was sanctioned by the local school board.
Why did this take place only in the black schools? During the days of segregation, I am sure the Negro schools weren’t allowed to do anything without permission from the school board.
We don’t know the answers — for now, that is.
While I was growing up, I remember some students being allowed to skip grades, but I never heard anyone mention why they were allowed to do so. No matter how you mix the batter, it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you don’t fully understand the why of something.
I have uncovered a document dated 1925 that deals with promotion standards used at that time.
I wanted to do a comparison of what was used then versus now, but after an hour on the Internet reviewing some of the data used now, I decided it would be impossible.
Today’s guidelines for grade promotion read like a treaty between nations. No wonder students and parents are frustrated. Add this to something called No Child Left Behind, and you come up with a blend of bureaucracy and testing that seems to be leaving schools behind, rather than students.
Do I have the answers associated with our school systems now? No. I just hope that the world will slow down so our kids can comprehend the vastness of the world around them, which seems to be changing with each new gigabyte of memory.
I bet the majority of adults older than 55 who are reading this are glad they graduated when they did. I know I am.
Were the promotional standards in 1925 any better or less confusing than now?
Since this was during segregation, I searched to see if there were two such memos — one for blacks and one for whites — but I only found the one. So, at this point, let’s say this applied to both black and white schools.
After repeatedly reading this promotion memo, titled “Promotion Suggestions,” I believed the policy gave teachers too much power. The word “suggestion” in the title of the memo should have been my first clue something wasn’t kosher.
What if the teacher didn’t like the student and decided to hold him back? This is exactly what happened to many students who went to the “high first” rather than the second grade in the 1940s.
Rather than a set policy, it seems to me the school administration was saying “do whatever you like.” Give the students standardized tests, even though we don’t have a standardized promotion system.
Before writing this column, I called several parents with children in school, and they all had different answers to the question “Do you know the promotional standards for your child being promoted from one grade to the other?”
Most knew some of the requirements, but all admitted they didn’t know everything.
If we can’t come up with a simple explanation regarding promotions that parents fully understand, I can only imagine what may be going through the minds of those who are under pressure to be promoted and eventually get their high school diploma.
Glenn Chavis researches and writes about High Point’s black history. Contact him at Storytime40@aol.com.
'Promotion Suggestions’ from 1929
The following is the text from “Promotion Suggestions” in 1929.
In considering the eligibility of pupils for promotion, you should use as a standard the median scores of all the pupils in the grade throughout the City, rather than the median of your room.
The Standard Test scores are not to be used as the sole basis of promotion. They are intended to assist teachers, supervisors and principals in forming judgments as to the placement of pupils.
The score sheets for the Standard Tests indicate the ratings of pupils for the grade.
In order to find their ratings according to their age, it will be necessary to find ratings on the score sheet for pupils of that age.If a pupil, for example, in the fifth grade is a year over-age, his age rating will be found under the score on the sheet for the sixth grade. If he is a year under-age, his age will be found on the fourth-grade score sheet.
Normally all pupils whose abilities are above, and the majority of those whose abilities are below the median, should be promoted.
Normally more than nine-tenths of all the pupils in a grade throughout the City should be promoted.
However, it may very often happen that the majority of the pupils not promoted are found in a few rooms. The number to be promoted from any given room should be determined by a comparison of the ability of the pupils in the room with the median for the city.
Pupils whose abilities are below the median achievement of the preceding grade should not be promoted to a higher grade. What should be done with them and for them is a problem to be decided upon the facts in each case.
This much may be said, namely, that every possible effort should be made to avoid having a pupil merely repeat. Some sort of change should be provided when possible.
Pupils, whose scores in the three Standard Tests indicate that their abilities are above the median of the next grade above, should be favorably considered for promotion to the second grade above.
All such cases, however, should be passed upon individually, and no pupil should be so promoted who, on account of underage, physical immaturity, or any other cause, would thereby be placed under an obvious handicap.
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