A San Diego Unified school district report shows the majority of local eighth graders who flunked at least one class last year still moved on to high school and enrolled in a special intervention program. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has details.
San Diego school trustees adopted a policy last year that gave the parents of low-performing eighth-grade students a choice: either they could keep the student in middle school another year, or they enter the child in a summer school program, then enroll them in a ninth-grade intervention program.
Parents overwhelmingly chose intervention, and only 20 students were held back. Nearly 630 students went to summer school, but more than half of them failed to make up the grades. About 550 students enrolled in the high school intervention program. The results of the intervention may not be known until the end of the school year.
The preliminary results leave some critics wondering if the students are really being helped. The San Diego school board discusses the issue tomorrow. Ana Tintocalis , KPBS News.
