Decision 2

Currently the principal is involved in a decision that has carried over from the previous year.  There was a second grade student who was recommended to the retention committee at the end of last school year.  The committee reviewed all the proper documents and decided to retain the child with an opportunity for the child to retest in the fall. The parents are in the process of contesting this decision with the school board.

The teacher involved has taken all the proper steps in retaining the student but the parents strongly disagree with the decision of the committee. The teacher alerted the parent several times during the year with action alerts and notes home.  The school also put interventions in place to help the child progress during the year, although interventions were in place and some growth was noted not enough to be promoted to the next grade. The student also received small group instruction in a group called Reading Club.

The parents have currently decided to agree with the testing but have put limitations on the test setting.  The test will be conducted off campus at a neutral location and it will be scored by the learning community where the test will take place. The principal still has the ultimate decision in this situation.  She has decided that if the student scores a seventy or above she will promote the student and if below seventy she will retain the student.

This problem seems to fall into the Maier Model upper right quadrant (Q*A).  The decision requires great knowledge in order for a good decision to be reached. It also calls for expertise of the team involved in the decision. The facilitative leader model is necessary in the fact that they have to gather information and input for the team to come to a decision.

This problem seems to have gone on too long.  Unfortunately the parents are not in agreement with the school and team of teachers who have evaluated the situation thoroughly.  I like the fact that the administrator is supporting her team and teacher involved in the situation. If I was faced with the decision to retain the student I would have made my final decision at the end of the school year that way the problem doesn’t have time to linger and grow bigger. I would have tried to gain the support or agreement of the parents at the end of the school year in order to save the problem from going to the school board. I know in some situation it is hard to get parents to see your team’s side in the situation regarding retention. If at all possible I would try to put a plan in place for parents who do not agree with retention. It is hard on a child and parent to be retained but at the same time it is hard for a school to continue to move students up and down during the school year.   It is frustrating and stressful for all who are involved in this decision, including the parents and not to mention the student! After the test the principal has put the test scores in place to end the decision. Wow what a decision!