Carol Sherron, runs a school in Greenville that has leveled courses such as average and above average history courses. Clearly, the students don't have the same opportunity to master the same skills at the same grades. Yet they face the same test. Students in rural districts who don't have teachers for basic subjects also face the same test. Philosophically we should hold kids to the same standards, but we have to do that at Day One, not when the test comes.
Educators estimate having to place hundreds of students on academic plans and in summer school.
Many fear great increases in retention and drop-out rates. How to help Educators in South Carolina are at a loss to explain how remediation might work. The state has provided nothing more than loosely worded guidelines on frequency and intensity, and whether it should include tutor assistance. Existing remedial programs have failed. Evidence is the staggering percentage of children who teachers and principals say are working below grade level - as high as 50 percent in some schools.