When it comes to catching kids up, let’s stop with the generalities
May 6, 2020
It’s an experience common to every writer in the world: the sinking feeling when you realize that the provocative headline your editor has placed atop your carefully-wrought piece is sure to send an angry mob in your (virtual) direction. So it was with my recent Washington Post op-ed arguing that “millions of elementary pupils who were already a year or two behind when the crisis struck” should not be socially promoted next year, so as to give their schools and teachers the gift of time “to fill in the gaps in kids’ knowledge and skills and accelerate their progress to grade level.” The truncated, click-bait version? “Schools should consider keeping kids in the same grade this fall.”