Term
2003
Capstone
Thesis
Degree Name
MAEd
Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair
Tracy Olson
Secondary Advisor/Reader One
Karen Atkinson-Rogers
Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two
Christa McGarry
Abstract
Retention and social promotion have been the methods of dealing with most students in the public schools who are not making passing grades. Both of these options have been thoroughly discredited by research showing that neither option will help struggling students in the long run. In spite of this research, federal and state governments, and local school boards are proposing legislation mandating retention of students who are not performing to particular standards. Is there a more proactive approach to retention and social promotion that works?
The current research identifies several program characteristics that help students be more successful at the middle school level. These include offering students a more challenging, content rich, and sequential curriculum over the years; teaching students vocabulary based on mnemonics; having students stay with the same peers and the same teachers for more than one year; and greater parent involvement. At one typical six through eight middle school in a medium sized city there is a curricular model that incorporates all of these characteristics: The Core Knowledge Sequence (CKS).
A document study was done in this middle school to ascertain whether or not Core Knowledge students performed better over time than randomly selected control groups in a number of areas.
Keywords
At-risk Students
Recommended Citation
Rodgers, Bruce Allen, "The Core Knowledge Sequence: An Alternative to Retention and Social Promotion" (2003). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations. 1365.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/1365
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations