Revision
Revise Position Paper
1. Use subject headings and subheadings starting with an introduction and ending with a conclusion.
2. Add more in depth narrative on the topic by including more of your own critical thinking on the articles. ( ADD 200 words of critical thinking on an article)
3. Please strengthen this with more integration across sources and application to experiences.
4. You need this paper to be in full formal APA research paper style with a title page, abstract, and double spacing.
5. Add 1 more scholar source
Introduction.
Educational psychology is mostly concerned with studying how human being learn. It is believed that each individual has his/her own way of learning new things and retaining them in their respective memories (Sensory, Short term and Long term memory). And again each individual has his/her own speed of learning and grasping things or ideas being passed on to them. There are those who are fast learners, moderate and slow learners. There are reasons and factors that facilitate their learning activities, therefore, trainers or teachers should take all these factors into consideration while facilitating learning activities and process.
Grade retention.
This is where teachers or administrators believe that weak students should be kept in the same grade for two consecutive years in the hope that it benefits them in terms of improving their performance. Students find it agonizing when asked to repeat a grade and even parents find it hard to jump on board for this decision.
Should struggling students be retained?
This is one of the hottest topics in schools. The administrators and the teachers are in constant dilemma whether to retain the struggling students in their respective grades or give them a chance in the next grade. Most of these schools are all result-oriented and some even tend to exclude the week students from sitting for a joint examinations thinking that they will lower the school’s mean grade. Is there morality in retaining these sort of students? What about if they are retained and no improvement is made by them? This is an issue that should be looked into keenly with a third eye. As a scholar am opposed to retention of struggling students therefore, NO, struggling students should not be retained at all.
Reason for my position on the topic.
As I have asked above, what if the retained student do not show any sign of improvement, will we retain them again or what will be their next step in their education. What efforts do we put in as teachers that would improve the students’ performances? Do parents of these students consulted or it is the mandate of the institution to retain the students with or without the consent of the parents. I will address this topic in justifying my position of not in favor of retaining struggling students based on based on various educational psychologists’ theories and their view.
Operant conditioning theory.
This theory is under the behavioral psychology and was championed by B.F. Skinner. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory advocated for looking at the root cause for an action and what are the ramifications of the taken action. This was simply to understand the behavior of a learner. It will be difficult and impartial to retain students who are academically weak without first looking an understanding the genesis of the behavior which results in certain consequences. It will bore no fruits if the trainers or teachers retain the weak students in an effort to make them improve if at they do not understand where the problem is lying. Some students are weak because of the family problems back at home thus they find it hard to concentrate in their studies. Others are struggling in class because they have low motivation to concentrate in their studies. All these factors should be brought into consideration and play.
B.F. Skinner realized that some behaviors or performances are repeated when they are reinforced while others weaken or become extinct when they are not reinforced. There are two types of reinforcements, the positive and the negative reinforcement which is sometimes referred to as punishment. The teachers should try to apply the rule of the thumb where if a student makes a slight improvement he/she is recognized for the effort he/she has placed towards the slight improvement. The greatest room God has given us is the room for improvement, there an improvement is an improvement whether slight or large. By recognizing their efforts, teachers encourage students to put more energy and effort in whatever behavior was recognized. This will help address those struggling students who lack motivation in their studies. Trainers or teachers should reward these students for that slight improvement by verbally congratulating them or even giving them a pat on the back for the job well done. The school should set aside some kitty for buying gifts for the those performing well. This will motivate those who performed well to put more effort. Those who did not perform well would not be rewarded and they envy those who received the gift prompting them to work smarter next time so that they too are rewarded.
Retaining these struggling students is like punishing them for their poor performance and this may result in an un pleasant behavior for example fear of school and they may end up dropping out of the system simply because somebody never took a keen interest in understanding the root cause for their struggling. (McLeod, 2015)
Discovery learning theory.
This theory of learning was pushed forward by Jerome Bruner. This theory advocates that teachers should help the learners discover their modes of learning rather than telling them. Bruner recognized that students learn best when they construct their own knowledge and teachers should assist them in constructing their own form of learning. Most students are not good in cramming especially the slow learners. When not taken into consideration a teacher may think that they are weak students and their next course of action would be to retain them. Most teachers are good at drilling students, most prefer lecture methods which may not favor the weak students. Most of the learning activities are usually teacher-centered instead of learner-centered where the teacher would be a facilitator. In aiding the discovery learning, spiral curriculum that was suggested by Bruner can be applied. The spiral curriculum suggests teaching learners from the simplest concepts to the most complex concepts. This spiral curriculum encourages the students to learn and have the gist to continue learning. This is because when you present a complex idea to students they get discouraged to learn since they find it hard to comprehend these complex ideas.
Before an institution decides on retaining a weak student, they should investigate the methods of pedagogy that are applied in the said institution. Are these teaching methods focus on the student or it is teacher-centered? Does the involved teacher arrange his/her concepts from the simplest to the most complex ideas when presenting them to the students? (J.S., 1960)
Self-determination Theory (SDT)
This is another theory of learning that should be applied before thinking of retaining the weak students. This theory was advocated by two psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. They were the ones who came up with the intrinsic motivation, which explains that someone does something simply because he/she loves it and finds it enjoyable, and extrinsic motivation that tend to explain that one is engaged in an activity simply because of the reward or payment that comes at the end of it. When there are people listening to students’ pleas and they receive immediate feedback to their concern students will feel intrinsically motivated to learn and find solutions to their problems. Studies have it that when students learn so as to acquire good grades they are likely to perform poorly and those that set their own educational goals have higher probability of attaining these goals. Therefore, teachers should be able to guide the students in setting their own educational goals which are achievable. When administrators organize for a joint exam, which would be used to measure the students’ capabilities, it forces the teachers to restrain their teaching methods to those that will result in good grades and general performance of the institution. This will make the teacher forget the interest of the student which will result in poor performance by the student. Thus the teacher will deduce that the student is weak and struggling with learning activities and the next decision would be to retain him/her in her current grade while the other students deemed strong academically would be graduating to the next level. (ryan, 2000)
After looking at the above educational psychology theories to try and justify the reasons as to why I oppose retaining of weak students, we will try to find out the effects, both positive and negative, associated with retaining students who are believed to be weak.
Positive effects of retaining struggling students.
The main reason as to why teachers and administrators in collaboration with the parents suggest retention of struggling students is that they believe that the affected students would get a chance to reform, develop and catch up with their peers. It is believed that these students will start to flourish once they start to develop in respect to their academic level. Most of the teachers usually suggest two years in succession when retaining a weak and struggling student. Their argument is based on the idea that these two years will provide the student with enough time to familiarize with the instructor and the classroom. The student is also expected to be familiar with the concepts and the subject content in that particular level grade. This is assumed to be an easy task for the student to improving in learning.
It should be noted that keen interest in the area in which the student failed the previous year is taken into consideration. During that retention period, the student’s teacher will have a keen interest in remediation in the weakness areas of the struggling students in order to assist them make an improvement. So the question is, what about if the student still does not show signs of improvement after the two years of retention?
What are the negative effects of retaining struggling students?
These negative effects would act as my other reasons for opposing retention of struggling students. In as much as some parents and teachers advocate for retaining the weak students, they give a blind eye to the problems associated with retaining them. One of the negative impacts of grade retention is that most of the students feel demotivated to continue with education and thus end up dropping out of the school. Research has it that high percentage of students who are retained are negatively affected by the two-year retention period and the low percentage are the ones who are deemed to have gained positive affect of them being retained. This translates to most of the supposedly retained students dropping out of the education system.
Another negative impact of retaining students in their grade level is that these students feel embarrassed, ashamed and suffer from depression. This can be because their peers are already ahead of them and them being retained would mean that they will be older than their current classmates. They would be subject of mockery and laughter as they will be seen to be failures. No one can swallow such shame and abuses. Their emotional status will be dealt a big blow and thus lowering their self-esteem. When this happens be sure of no improvement in their performance will be witnessed. This will only ruin their quest for education. And who knows, they may end up becoming social misfits in the society. The teacher may also find it hard and challenging in instructing the whole class because the retained students may disrupt learning process since they are self-conscious and they may end up being class bullies.
Research has it that, academically, 47% of the retained students improved in their performance, they can be said to have benefited from the retention procedure. The other 48% of the retained students did not improve, no difference was noted between their previous performance and their performance after retention, the 5% slightly was favoring the retention. (Gleason, 2007)
Some teachers are fond of threatening students with retention if they fail final exams. To them they think this may motivate the students to work extra hard and smart not knowing that this trend is breeding unstable emotional conditions to the students. This will result to the student being stressed and loosing concentration on their studies. We are living in a generation where individual’s capabilities are measured using exams and test scores, that those who do not meet the desired set of scores are deemed to be failures. Parents and teachers/administrators should come into realization that this culture leads to breeding of stressed and depressed individuals in the society. (Jimerson, 2001)
Retention of students can also prove to be costly to the government expenditure. For example, if the government annually pays $10,000 per students, can you imagine the cost the government will incur in catering for around 2.3% of 50million enrolled students who are retained. This proves to be costly since they would have added one year or two years more on their stipulated time they were to take in their whole education journey. They will also be a year or two years behind when they are expected to have entered into the job market, meaning that delaying paying taxes.
Why retaining struggling students has failed.
Retaining struggling has seen above has more disadvantage than the advantages. This intervention has failed to take off has planned and it has only been noted as the main reason for increase in school drop out by students. There are various reasons has to why retention has and will always fail to serve its main purpose. Teachers and administrators are always blinded by the fact that retained students who show improvement is only for a short period of time before their weakness is exploited again.
The first reason why this retention intervention has failed is because there is lack of structured and acceptable methods and strategies of addressing these students’ weakness in order to address their cognitive and social problems. Teachers take most of their time in trying to address the test score improvement instead of having a keen and personal interest in knowing the root cause of the cognitive incompetence of the students. Teachers would continue teaching the class normally whereas the student would be suffering in silence over the abuses and embarrassment that kill their social life and self-esteem. This would finally result in them seeking help outside the school and thus becoming social misfits in the society.
Another reason is the teachers being blindfolded by the short term improvement that is shown by the students who are retained. The teachers may see this as great effort that has paid off. It is not bad to feel elated when you see your efforts working but then there should be a contingency to address the issue in a long term perspective. This is where our esteemed teachers fail and what they fail to understand because in the later stages of the student’s academic progress his/her weakness would be exploited because of ineffective and inefficient instructional methodology.
The other reason is that most of the retained students are either overage or big in size or both in their class. Their colleagues will either feel threatened by these overage and big students in the class and this can lead to disruption of the learning process. Or on the other hand the retained student owing to their big size will be seen as laughing stalks. For instance, when they start experiencing signs of adolescence in their growth, some of them would feel ashamed that they will be viewed as grown-ups in a classroom full of children. That is where the onset of stigmatization is witnessed and who knows what might happen next. Some of them may even be suicidal if they pressured not drop out of school amidst embarrassment and laughter from their peers who would be ahead of them in the grade level. (Jimerson, 2001)
Alternatives to retaining struggling students.
Since am not for the retaining of struggling students, it was imperative that I look at the alternatives that we have in place instead of retaining these students. Having also looked at the negative impacts that retention of weak students has, it might prove challenging to a caring parent to subject his/her child to be retained as his/her peers are moving to the next level.
Before thinking of retaining a student as his/her peers are moving to the next level, have the teachers thought of counselling the students? Some students are not weak, they only lack motivation and direction. The teacher should play this role of guiding and offering advice to this student. This will help them realize their potential and capabilities. At home the parents should give their children pep talk as this will make them feel they are still valued in the society. This scenario will trigger their motivation to studying. Teachers should also refrain from using derogatory terms when a student fails to achieve pass mark instead find the root cause for this slump in performance. This would help tackle the problem and help lay a long term foundation for academic success.
Proper structures should also be put in place to offer remedial services and tutorials to these weak students. This can be arrangement between the teachers, students and parents so that the students can get some after class tutorials. This would help get the students attain the same cognitive development as their peers. The arrangements can be made in that the student and the teacher meet over the weekend or in the evening after normal classes to assist the student explore his/her weakness and address them. This would also help the teacher understand where the problem lies.
Last but not least, the test score should not be the determining factor of students’ academic ability. Every individual has different capability and not everyone is good with books. Therefore, the curriculum developers should this into consideration. This would enable them restructure the curriculum that has the interests of the learners at heart. This curriculum will provide the fair basis for each student to learn what they find comfort and joy in.
Conclusion.
The above reasons, as discussed are enough to scrap away the policy of retaining students who are deemed weak because of test score. We cannot declare somebody to be weak because he/she has failed a standardized test. Taking into consideration the negativity that comes with retention of students, educational planners and implementers would think twice about subjecting students to retention.
References.
Gleason, K. K. (2007). The short term effect of grade retention on peer relations and academic performance of at-risk first graders. The eleemntary school journal, 327-340.
This article was published by the Marsicon Institute for Early Learning and Literacy, University of Denver highlighting the research findings on the retention across K-8. the main theme of the article was does retention help struggling students. The findings were presented in data form.
Jerome .S., B. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, Mass: Havard University Press.
This book is about Jerome Bruner who was advocating for discovery learning. He tries to argue that individuals can learn using the spiral curriculum which is from simple ideas to complex and by using the spiral curriculum instructors can guide the learners towards discovering their best way of learning.
Jimerson, S. (2001). Meta-analysis of grade retention research; implications for practice in the 21st century. school psychology review,30,, 313-330.
In this article, the writer tries to find out and address the reasons as to why the retention of weak students has failed in as much as efforts have been put in place to ensure that the grade retention policy is implemented. The writer also tries to figure out the mental problem that is caused by retaining the struggling students.
McLeod, S. (2015). Retrieved from Skinner-Operant Conditioning.: www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
This article by McLeod is summarizing the operant conditioning that was advocated by B.F. Skinner. The meaning of operant conditioning, the two types of reinforcement that Skinner came up with. The point of interest in this article was how positive reinforcement can be used in a classroom situation.
Ryan, R. & Deci, E.L. (2000). self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. american psychologist, Vol. 55(1), pp. 68-78.
This journal looks at the theory of self-determination that was championed by Richard Ryan and Deci who tried to criticize the operant conditioning in that it did not focus on the cognitive factor of a person. it explains the what self-determination theory is all about, a person being motivated to partake an action either intrinsically or extrinsically. It then looks at what the teacher can do to guide the student towards being intrinsically motivated to study since extrinsic motivation in studies is grades which makes the students perform poorly.
