Poll reopens debate on social promotion

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Pick any third-grade classroom in the state of New Mexico and the odds are nearly half of the students are behind their grade level in reading.

According to the results from recent statewide testing, only 52.4 percent of third graders are proficient or better in reading. The Albuquerque Public Schools district numbers are only slightly better with 52.6 percent testing proficient or better.

It's a number that concerns state leaders like Public Education Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera.

"Reading is such a gateway," Skandera said. "We know if our students can't read by the end of the third grade they are four times more likely to drop out."

One of Gov. Susana Martinez's big education initiatives is one that would make it practically mandatory for students who've fallen behind in reading by the end of the third grade to not be promoted to fourth grade.

Currently, state law allows students to be held back a grade or retained, but only if the teacher and principal recommend it and the parent doesn't veto it, something they have the option of doing for one year.

Union leaders have been critical of the governor's plan, and the Legislature has failed to pass it.

"If you retain kids and don't give them the help they need then they are more likely to drop out later," said Ellen Bernstein with the Albuquerque Teachers Federation. "Retention should be the last option."

An Albuquerque Journal poll asked New Mexico voters whether third graders who can't read at grade level should be held back. Seventy-five percent of those polled said yes, with 18 percent opposed and 7 percent undecided.

"I'm not surprised at all," Skandera said. "I think the people have spoken loud and clear, and I think they have consistently."

But Bernstein criticized the poll saying it didn't give those asked all the facts or ask voters if they approved the part of the proposed law that she says would take away a parent's veto power.

"Government shouldn't have the right to say, 'We're overriding your parental rights because this is the law and whether you think your child should be retained, we are retaining this child,'" Bernstein said.

Under an amended bill the legislature considered this year, parents would have had an option, but only if their kid had strong participation in any recommended remediation and the school approved a parent's petition.

Parents KRQE News 13 spoke to outside of Longfellow and Coronado elementary schools Thursday afternoon seemed split. While the majority favored holding third graders back who are falling behind, almost all also believed parents should have a say when it comes to making a decision.

News 13 asked APS for statistics on how many students are currently held back and how many times a parent overrides a recommendation to hold a student back. A spokesperson said the district did not track those numbers and could not provide them Thursday.