A Gift Year at School ?

Ah, summer holidays…Although we are now officially into summer, parents are extremely concerned about their children's upcoming school year.  In spite of these unusual times, teachers had to come up with end-of-year report cards. Was the option of repeating a grade suggested for any of Ontario’s students? Probably not.

In May, Monika Ferenczy has a piece in the Ottawa Citizen, questioning Ontario's policy of relentlessly pushing students along, year after year. To read Should some students repeat this school year,  click here. 

I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Ferenczy, who questions Ontario’s education policy of social promotion  - that is,  “ placing children in grades according to their birth year”. I have long thought that parents should have a greater say about their child’s grade level.

 As Ferency stated, various provinces have differing cut-off dates for grade placement. If you live in Quebec and your 6th birthday is in October, you will be placed in Kindergarten. If you live in Ontario and your 6th birthday is even later, on December 31st, you are in grade 1. 

I am not advocating that we “fail” students. What I suggest is that some students would benefit from an extra year in the primary division (Kindergarten to Grade Three). As Malcolm Gladwell  pointed out in The Outliers, kids born in the latter part of the year. “through no fault of their own - have been dealt a big disadvantage by the educational system.”

 As a parent and grandparent, I am grateful that two of my family members were given the opportunity for an extra year in the primary division.  I do not look upon this as a failure. Rather, it is the gift of time. These children were given an extra year, a gift year. 

As a special education teacher, (now retired) I often had students with late fall birthdays, who were struggling to keep up with their peers. When they turn 7, at the end of December, they are in a class with other students who will turn 8 in January. It’s hard to keep up with classmates who are almost an entire year older than you. 

 When you choose to have your child repeat a year, you take the student from being the youngest in the class to being the oldest. You give them the tremendous advantages of time, maturity and increased confidence.

 One in ten students has a learning disability. They learn differently, they need more individual instruction and they require extra time to master skills. A learning disability, coupled with a late fall birthday, presents a tremendous challenge. Giving LD students an extra year in the primary division will not take away their learning disability, but it will take some pressure off and give them more confidence as they work alongside peers closer to their age. 

 I'm reminded of a tiny, timid grade 7 student of mine, who was struggling with all aspects of the curriculum. His parents had begged his elementary school to allow him to repeat grade one but were refused. What a shame he was not allowed the gift of that extra year.

 ESL (English as a Second Language) students are another group who could benefit from an extra year. Canadian schools are so driven by this age appropriate placement policy, when a little common sense suggests that ESL students could really use an extra year to learn English.

  This fall, if some parents feel that their primary grade children could use an extra year, their recommendations should be given serious consideration. A caring, involved parent knows their child better than any teacher or principal ever will, especially this year. If ever there was a time to listen to parents, this is it.