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REPEATING GRADES & SELF-ESTEEM.
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Research proposal to determine effects on third-grade students' self-esteem of holding them back to repeat the school year.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Research proposal to determine effects on third-grade students' self-esteem of holding them back to repeat the school year.
Paper Introduction:
The Effect of Retention at the Third Grade Level on Children's Self-Esteem
I. The Problem
Introduction
Among the many reform efforts currently undertaken to improve education in the United States is a trend toward holding students back from advancing to the next grade until they have mastered certain skills. The idea of social promotion has fallen out of favor; instead, the focus is on retention.
However, there is controversy about the value of retention. Educators disagree about the value of retention and the harm of social promotion, both intellectually and psychologically. Gordon (1999) asserted that retention is ill-advised and that
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(1997). Thesecond group comprises students who have been socially promoted, or whobarely graduated to the fourth grade. TheResearch Question: The research question for this study is to determine if holdingchildren at the third-grade level back from advancing to the next gradewill affect their self-esteem.Subsidiary Questions Certainly other questions of interest occur in relationship to thistopic. Seth's story: The tale of a self-determinedretention. Clearly the literature reflects the controversy on this issue, withsome research supporting the positive effects or retention, while otherstudies find no positive effects, or deleterious effects.Hypothesis The primary hypothesis for this study is that children who areretained at the third-grade level, rather than advanced to the next grade,will suffer reduction in self-esteem. He felt that he fit better with thefourth-graders and would be happier there. Childhood Education, 74(1), 36-37. The next step in the process is to explain the testing to thechildren, allowing them the option to participate in the test or not. Both of these have been shown to have negativeconsequences for children. It is also important to get informedconsent for these children's participation from the parents. It is difficult towork with children of such young ages while using concepts related to self-esteem which may be difficult for them to comprehend or identify with.Still, the intent is to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the CoopersmithSelf-Esteem Inventory, modified for use of young children. Theidea of social promotion has fallen out of favor; instead, the focus is onretention. Forexample, Mohr (1997) reported on one fifth-grade boy who asked to bereturned to repeat the fourth grade. (1959). Instead of choosing one or the other, Darling-Hammond (1998) proposed four alternative strategies to try to help studentssucceed. (1965). On the other hand, there is little support for the value of socialpromotion either. Thismay eliminate some of the original sample and the researcher may have toreturn to the first step to obtain more potential participants. It, too, has been shown to be reliable and validthrough considerable testing. There are many problems with the retention process, however,including the stigma upon the child, their feeling of being personalfailures, a sense that they should be in a higher grade, and the fact thatrepeating the grade may have no effect if the real problem if a learningdisability or other issue. (1998). The third group comprises studentswho were promoted to the fourth grade because they satisfactorily masteredthe knowledge and skills of the third-grade classroom. Procedure: Because of the issue involved, there are ethical concerns that needto be addressed before undertaking this study. Gordon (1999) assertedthat retention is ill-advised and that elementary and early-childhoodeducation programs need to be completely restructured to more appropriatelyreflect the developmental nature of learning. Darling-Hammond, L. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 87-94. For example, co-related to the research question, does advancingchildren from the third-grade level to the next grade have any influence ontheir self-esteem? Parents may believe that this will allow their child the time tocatch up emotionally or developmentally, actually improving their chanceacademically and in terms of self-esteem. Self-esteem inventories. A method for determining types of self-esteem. Rosenberg, M. He felt that he had made more and better friends and that hewas much more comfortable academically. (1981). Coopersmith, S. Gordon, T.(1999). Retention - Retention, on the other hand, is the practice of holdingthe child back to repeat a year of schooling if that child has not masteredthe necessary skills. Palo Alto, CA:Consulting Psychologists Press. Arethere any differences in self-esteem levels between all of these groups?Review of Relevant Literature According to a classic 198 study on childhood stress, the only twothings that children fear more than losing their parents or going blind ishaving to repeat a grade. In particular, she notedthat reading is a process of learning, rather than a one-timeaccomplishment, and that it can be learned gradually over a series of yearswhile the student advances through the grades. Perry, J. TheCoopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory included items which were originallysorted into two groups, those which indicate high self-esteem and thosewhich indicate low self-esteem (Coopersmith, 1959). Corollary to that, the secondaryhypothesis is that children who are advanced from the third-grade level tothe fourth-grade level on schedule receive increases to their self-esteem,even if they are socially promoted or promoted at the very bottom of theirclass. This is one of the most traumatic events foryoung children, and it has far-reaching consequences. The attempt will be made to obtain samples of children fromsimilar socioeducational and economic backgrounds.Research Design and Instruments This is a simple experimental design comparing the results of threegroups of students in terms of measures of self-esteem. It is based on the notion that social promotionharms the child by pushing him or her past capacity.II. The RosenbergSelf-Esteem Scale contains 1 items to which participants respond using a 4-point scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Definition of Terms: Social promotion - Social promotion is the automatic advancement ofthe child to next grade level even if that child has not satisfactorilylearned the skills nor performed the tasks of the current grade level. (1999). And Dauberg, S.L. Mohr, K.A.J. The students willbe selected by reference to the elementary school principals of theseschools. The Method Sample The subjects will be 3 students, both male and female, from thethird and fourth grade classes at district elementary schools. They did discover that students who were retained did tend to remainbehind their peers for the rest of their school career. Society and the adolescent self-image.Princeton, NJ: After the full complement of subjects has been obtained, the childrenwill be administered the two self-esteem measures using an oral procedureso that they have the opportunity to ask the meaning of any of the wordsused. What, Ms. Crabapple again? He was one of the youngestchildren in his class and he had consistently struggled. However, besides the increase in involuntary retention, there appearsto be an increase in voluntary retention, in which parents ask that theirchild be allowed to repeat a grade during which they have struggled (Perry,1999). However, there is controversy about the value of retention.Educators disagree about the value of retention and the harm of socialpromotion, both intellectually and psychologically. In particular, is there any improvement in thechildren's self-esteem if they are socially promoted, or if they areadvanced to the next grade, but at the very bottom of their class? Retention is no way to boost reading. Itis based on the notion that children should stay with their age-level peersand that retention is so harmful it should be avoided. Test results will be analyzed and reports given to both schoolprincipals and parents, if so requested. There is evidence, however, that retention is not always a badsituation for the child, particularly in cases of voluntary retention. She noted, for example, that teacherexpertise is the single most important determinant of student performanceand recommends that children struggling with learning, or at-risk enteringschool, receive the best-qualified teachers, rather than the least-qualified, which is often the case. On thesuccess of failure: A reassessment of the effects of retention in theprimary grades. The Effect of Retention at the Third Grade Level on Children's Self-EsteemI. Incomparison to those who have been socially promoted, children who have beenretained do much worse in the long run, even if they are at the same basiclevel to begin with. Thesestudents will be divided into three separate groups. Coopersmith, S. In addition,they learned that measures of self-esteem and attitudes toward school forretained students did not deteriorate after retention and in some casesimproved. In order best to protectthe children, the intent is to work with the principals of the schools inorder to choose children carefully. New & WorldReport, 126(2), 75-76. U.S. (1997). Behavioral problems are also often the result. References Alexander, K.L., Entwisle, D.R. The retention rate wasapproximately 9 percent annually, with 16 percent of first graders retainedin 199 . It has been shown to have face validity andconstruct validity, and is a unidimensional measure of self-esteem. Retention does not have thevalue for academic improvement that education reformers contend that itdoes. This is thefirst step. The ProblemIntroduction Among the many reform efforts currently undertaken to improveeducation in the United States is a trend toward holding students back fromadvancing to the next grade until they have mastered certain skills. The most common ofthese consequences are that the child is stigmatized, rarely catches upwith classmates, and often drops out of school (Perry, 1999, Darling-Hammond, 1998). Avoiding both grade retention andsocial promotion. The researchers analyzed data in the Baltimore City PublicSchool System, basically a poor urban system. The first groupcomprises students who have been held back at the third-grade level. For this study, therevised, short form of the Inventory, limited to 25 items, will be used(Coopersmith, 1981). She recommended skillful teaching, redesigning schools, targetedservices, and useful assessments. In several follow-up discussions, he said that he was happy withhis decision. While the preceding was anecdotal, a more detailed study of studentsin the Baltimore City Public School System provides some support for thefinding that students may actually gain in self-esteem after beingretained. Apparently these children simply give up onthemselves as learners, feeling like failures and assuming that it isimpossible for them to succeed academically (Darling-Hammond, 1998). The authors looked at both the academic and social effects ofretention, conducting a number of analyses ( Alexander, et al., 1997). With his self-assessment, his parents felt free to allow him to repeat the fourth grade.The school agreed to this, and the boy repeated the last half of fourthgrade. They postulated that this was because students gained confidencewith their improved academic performance. However, they alsofound that students who were retained do make academic advances and doultimately do better than they would have if not retained. Retention, in itself, has many negatives, whilenot necessarily providing the hoped-for benefits to the children. Education Week, 18(4 ), 42,44. The Education Digest, 64(3), 48-53. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
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