question about school- passing/failing etc..

[lauren grier]

this may come out silly..

But, what would the criteria be for a child being held back in kindy??
Is it just the teachers opinion? or are state assessments counted towards passing? I'm a little bit worried about ce- more than likely we'll be transferring to a different school for next year (long story.) and.. He's struggled in school this year mainly because of some life experiences that have thrown him for a loop (also long story.).. He has an IEP & was deemed "Developmentally delayed" in december? or january.. before we knew what was going on anyway. He's made AMAZING strides now that things have settled down for him & he's getting the extra attention he needed at school. The reason he first was evaluated for the IEP process was because he fell *well* below benchmark for the schools PALS assesments (I don't know what it is called elsewhere/if other places do these). They are assessed a few months into the school year and again in may (officially). Ce was assessed as a "practice" test in March and he was *barely* below benchmark- and still had obv a couple months to finish catching up.
His report cards/progress reports have been mostly OK- He's got S (Secure) for 90% of the bits.. and D (Developing) for a couple.. but no B (beginning) so in my mind that makes him an "average" student..

I'm babbling too much oye sorry..
anyway.... I just don't know how the process works obv as he's my 1st and only kidlet. Would they have told me by this point that they think he'll be held back? Are they more likely to pass him to 1st grade BECAUSE he has the iep in place etc? I don't want him to have to repeat kindy..do I have a say in it if they say he should be held back? He's an amazingly brilliant kid, just has.. had to deal with a lot of shizz no kid ever should have.

eta: because some of you are weirdos and live where school is all but done.. ^_^ we have a month more of school still.

[Amber1279]

from what I have been told, when a child has an IEP then it is really hard to hold them back for academics. If he is improving and at almost benchmark I see no reason why they would hold him back.

I asked this question when Anthony was in Kinder and I was told that it is a long process to hold a child back a grade and you would be "warned" ahead of time.

[carrie1977]

I feel your pain Lauren. My daughter's kindergarten teacher wanted to hold her back but my husband and I opted to have her promoted. There were no formal evaluations done on her and with her it was merely the teacher's opinion. Unfortunately, we have made the decision to hold her back in first grade. She made great strides this year but her teacher feels that her maturity level and the ability to focus and work independently has prohibited her learning process. I think if his kindergarten teacher wanted to have him retained you definitely would've been told that already. It's such a tough decision and it has weighed heavily on me these last couple of months. I hated signing those papers.

[iteach3rdgrade]

They should have let you know by now. It doesn't sound like retention is needed.

[emmasmommy]

I would imagine they would inform you of that well before the end of the school year.

[lauren grier]

thank you girlies <3

[Angie4b1g]

They really don't like to hold them back, I think it messes up their funding from the state or something. They'll "place" them in the next grade if their grades don't support them moving on. I'd have to actually fight TO get my kid held back here, if I thought that it was what was best.

[newfiemountiewife]

La, Ce is much much much more intelligent than their tests are saying. The stuff he says and does makes me know this. Here, they don't hold them back after they get past kindergarten. They will just adjust their academics. They have "Pathways" 1 through 4, with 1 being the regular classes. Rae was moved to Pathway 2 because she has problems with staying focused and needs help and reminding to stay on task. We are hoping we will get some help with that, so we can move her back to Pathway 1, because academically she is fine, she just can't get her work done because of the focusing issues.

Sorry to hijack, but that's the experience here. They will move them on forward unless the parents push to keep them back, but only in Kindergarten.

[NeverendingJen]

Here they will tell you before the end of the year, at least at that grade level, usually by midway through final quarter. It's only once they get past grade 5 and into the middle school here that you have to wait on final grades, but even then you usually are aware well below the end of the year

[kscwgirl]

La, with an IEP, I doubt it, severely.

I taught sped for 5 years, pm me if you have any specfic questions about his benchmarks or anything in general

[aggiefamily]

I seriously doubt they will hold him back. If they did, K is the best age/grade to do it.

Is he able to go to summer school? I know more school doesn't sound like fun but summer school classes are often smaller with more hands on from the teachers.

[laurabobaura]

i def think they would have told you already. i kept rj in pre-k for two years because he just wasn't ready socially. still not sure he was this year. le sigh.

[MissKim]

Originally Posted by Amber1279

from what I have been told, when a child has an IEP then it is really hard to hold them back for academics. If he is improving and at almost benchmark I see no reason why they would hold him back.

Without reading the rest of the responses, Amber's right. An IEP is created to provide extra support within the classroom, so there's no need to hold a child back, especially when he's close to benchmark. The only times I've seen children held back in K with an IEP is when the child is very socially immature (and usually one that has a summer birthday).

At our school, if we're thinking about retention, we let parents know at the very first parent-teacher conference in the fall. Parents think that's early, but we'd rather they hear it's a possibility then and not be shocked when we recommend it in the spring.

[nonnie]

I held both of my older ones back - one of the drawbacks to 7 schools by 9th grade - I did it because I hated to see them struggle - I really felt that they would be more comfortable with the information if they grasped it better - I you decide to hold them back - (I truly believe ultimately it is up to the parent) then I suggest earlier rather than later. Later it becomes a huge social stigma. I am happy and comfortable with my decision. My kids are just a little more mature then their peers. Sometimes they tell me about the "stupid" things their friends do and they say they can't believe the friends do that - I like to think that maybe its because they are just a little bit older. My son will be 19 when he graduates - He will turn 18 as a junior - My biggest fear believe it or not is that he will be dating girls that are younger than him and all the issues that go with that -and on the purely selfish mommie side - I have them home with me an extra year -
Academically it was hands down the best decision for them

[Stacey42]

Here they tell you in the 4th or 5th marking period if there is a possibility of a child being held back. We're in the 6th marking period now & have 3 more weeks of school. So they would have said something by late April here. They do some PMAPs in the late 4th period and apparently that is the trigger along with overall grades. It sounds like his grades are fine. I think you would have heard something officially by now if they were seriously considering it.

[Lauren Reid]

in our school i was told that if a child doesn't technically meet the standards to pass into the next grade (they have to meet certain grades, etc) that they can't "promote" them to the next grade, but they can "place" them into the next grade....

i doubt they will try to keep Ce back in K next year though bcuz he's a smartie, he's just got all that other junk going on, but i think they'll still move him to 1st.

xo

[lauren grier]

thanks so much girls.. you make me feel better :] I've been pretty aggravated by this whole process all along.. as jamie and L know ^_^ Ce is super smart.. it's just.. blargh. I still haven't gotten the results of his last assessment.. hopefully by tomorrow- we were supposed to get them monday... I know, already, that he will not meet some of his june goals on his iep- but i really don't know what that means. I've worked with ieps etc before-- but not in this sort of setting so I'm not really sure how it translates to school

[MissKim]

Originally Posted by lauren grier

I know, already, that he will not meet some of his june goals on his iep- but i really don't know what that means.

Well, for me, I code goals as not met & no progress/not met & progress made/objective met. Honestly, when one of my kiddos doesn't meet a goal, I look at it as me screwing up in writing them, not a failure on the part of the child. I misjudged the child's developmental progress, I didn't hit that skill hard enough, etc. I just note the progress he did make, and make a note to continue working on it. It's not a huge deal, though.

[schock77]

IEP goals that aren't mastered can either be continued (usually with a higher mastery criteria or written differently to "up the ante" for him) or discontinued. IEP progress doesn't necessarily have to correlate with whether the are retained. Some goals are mastered well before a year passes and others may not.

I highly doubt they'll recommend retention- especially since he already has an IEP so support services are available for him if he does have any struggles. That said, if YOU think he'd benefit from a retention, YOU can ask for it. If you do, it's much better to do it now when there isn't a stigma for the kids, especially if he'll be at a new school anyway... but sounds like he's doing ok and making progress, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I work with preschoolers headed to kinder- so this is "my level" when it comes to special ed- feel free to pm me if you want to talk details.