ERIC Number: EJ1062323
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-May-11
Pages: 31
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1068 2341
EISSN: N/A
"Making the Difficult Choice": Understanding Georgia's Test-Based Grade Retention Policy in Reading
Huddleston, Andrew P.
Education Policy Analysis Archives, v23 n51 May 2015
The author uses Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, and habitus to analyze how students, parents, teachers, and administrators are responding to Georgia's test-based grade retention policy in reading at one Georgia elementary school. In this multiple case study, the author interviewed, observed, and collected documents regarding ten fifth graders, their parents, teachers, and administrators. Within the field of test-based retention, the students and parents brought cultural, social, and economic capital that received little value, and they readily accepted that the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) was trustworthy and retention was fair. However, believing that retaining students would ultimately reproduce the inequities the policy claimed to address, the teachers and administrators used an appeals procedure to ensure that retention was not based solely on test scores.
Descriptors: Grade Repetition, State Policy, Reading Achievement, Elementary School Teachers, Elementary School Students, Grade 5, Teacher Attitudes, Parent Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes, Cultural Capital, Social Capital, Criterion Referenced Tests, Competence, Social Promotion, Scores, High Stakes Tests, State Standards, Qualitative Research, Case Studies, Reading Difficulties, Racial Differences, Ethnic Groups, Family Income, Intervention, Language Usage, Family Environment, Gender Differences, Interviews, Observation, Documentation, Content Analysis, Coding, Comparative Analysis, Federal Government, State Government, Local Government
Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida. c/o Editor, USF EDU162, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5650. Tel: 813-974-3400; Fax: 813-974-3826; Web site: http://epaa.asu.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Georgia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A