[Herrodae]

I have a student whose parents would like her to be retained. I’m a 2nd year teacher and I don’t have any experience with this.

Academically she’s a little below average. She’s reading at grade level, her math computation is fine but she struggles with word problems. She struggles with writing. She regularly forgets to use capitalization and punctuation.

Her major issue is immaturity and lack of focus. I have to mother hen hen her much more than the others or she won’t get going with her work.

I’m not sure if the lack of focus is ADHD. Her parents are having her tested, but it could also be immaturity?

I think she could benefit academically and socially with another year. She’s not very confident but gets along fine with the other students. She was homeschooled for first grade and could use more time to fill in gaps.

My concern is that she could stand out because she’s not small for her age or anything. She’s a May birthday, so not late summer, but the kids may not notice because she’ll turn a different age at the end of the school year.

The principal and counselor don’t think the needs to be retained. If the parents insist I think they’ll go along with it. The counselor had her parents fill out a retention questionnaire and she actually scored as a good candidate, which surprised the counselor.

Can anyone provide any guidance or share experience with retention?

Thank you?

[kidsrterrific]

So I will. I have retired from full-time teaching for four years. I taught second grade for my last five years.

From what you have described, retention would not have been a consideration. The student sounds immature with a lack of focus. Many second graders need a little longer before they develop that maturity.

She’s reading on level. Many students struggle with story problems especially in the math that is presently taught.

Very rarely have I seen a student retained a year, and it’s usually before second grade. She is a student that probably would benefit from a tutor over the summer to keep her up with her reading and math skills.

What about testing scores? How have they been this year? You would definitely need a great deal of information in order to retain a child.

Hope I helped.

[EyeSeeTwo]

As along time Second Grade teacher I agree with her parents. Thankfully the counselor questionnaire concurs. The key though is what is the intervention plan that supports the retention? If it is a public school I would encourage, a Student success team meeting to address her strengths, her deficits and make the appropriate referral for addressing her possible Attention issues with her pediatrician, as well as determining if she needs a referral for a 504 plan. I support the child and the parent, but I have seen students held back and not benefit because the core issues were never addressed. The gift of time does help.

[slg]

From what you have described, this students would not meet the criteria for retention. Her struggles are things that many of my former 2nd grade students struggled with. She may have attention issues, but she may just be less mature like you said.

At my former school we would have to have had documentation to support retention. The child would have had to been brought to the child study team along the way. We would have to list any interventions or accommodations used and the results. Do you administer standardized testing? Has she shown growth this year? If she is growing academically that would also nix retention unless she was significantly behind her peers. Encourage tutoring and send home a list of low pressure activities (see TpT or Pinterest, etc.) to keep her learning over the summer.