[pjdoug]

Not true. Most schools are against this practice. They pass them on hoping that magically they will get better instead of dropout. In reality what you end up with is a student with a major academic problem that cannot get fixed by that point. This is why we have students in 12th grade reading on a 8th grade level and are not special education. The problem from the beginning is they were too young and no one worked with them at home. Then they got to school and because it counts against their retention schools pass them on. I'm not for 8 year old kindergarteners but schools should use the extra year that most kids these days have to make them more mature. Think of the world that they will be going into in 10 years. they better have every advantage that they can.

sounds like bad teachers in the beginning.I have a learning disability and was lucky enough to have a good first grade teacher that wouldn't give up on me and had me reading highschool level. school was difficult for me but I graduated at 17. I would have hated being held back and don't see a reason for it.