Do schools "fail" kids anymore and make them repeat a grade?

Was reading another thread about age of kids respective to the grade they are in, and I got to thinking about this.

In my day, usually if there was an older kid in class, it was because they failed a year along the way somewhere and had to repeat a grade. Today you hear about parents voluntarily "holing back" their kid (many times for athletic purposes, but that's another thread), thus many times making them one of the older in that class. But I just don't hear about kids "flunking" in elem/middle/sr. high the way I used to, and I have heard the term "social promotion" used before. So knowing we have a lot of teachers/former educators on here, I thought I would ask the question.

ES, I see it sometimes if the kid needs it happen.

I hardly ever see it at the MS level.

At the HS level, they flunk individual classes and have to retake those.

ES, I see it sometimes if the kid needs it happen.

 

I hardly ever see it at the MS level.

 

At the HS level, they flunk individual classes and have to retake those.

Am I imagining it, or did "failing" a grade used to happen more often 30-40 years ago and before?

ES, I see it sometimes if the kid needs it happen.

 

I hardly ever see it at the MS level.

 

At the HS level, they flunk individual classes and have to retake those.

Same thoughts. I taught eight years at the middle school level and we would have a couple of students each year that failed. They would have to repeat the grade the next year. One exception in our district was if a kid was a certain age they would be promoted on to the next level.

At the high school, it is more about failing classes and retaking them. It is pretty rare for a kid to take more than four years to finish high school here. Unfortunately, for some that might need more than four years, they tend to drop out instead of coming back for a fifth year.

It is pretty rare for a kid to take more than four years to finish high school here. Unfortunately, for some that might need more than four years, they tend to drop out instead of coming back for a fifth year.

That's kind of what I thought may happen with the high school kids.

Am I imagining it, or did "failing" a grade used to happen more often 30-40 years ago and before?

I graduated almost 30 years ago, and I was in a fairly large school district, and while kids did sometimes "fail" a grade, it didn't happen very often. I remember a couple kids failing in elementary school (K-4), don't remember anyone failing a grade in middle school (5th-8th grade), and had a few kids who didn't graduate on time (maybe 2 or 3) in a class of almost 700.

I believe NCLB helped put failing in the ground, by and large. When teachers started to be grilled on why a student failed rather than accepting that, you know, students fail from time to time, that was a death knell. That, and how it started to be held against teachers that failed their students because it reflected negatively on the numbers. Schools are highly invested in the appearance of advancement rather than whether it actually has happened or not.

What I see is that high school is based on credits earned now. Most students need 24-26 credits to graduate high school in KY. Students can fail classes and will need to take classes in the summer if they do or retake CORE classes the next school year.

Some districts have alternate ways to graduation for students who struggle to pass classes in high school. This is to help with the graduation rate since schools are now responsible for that statistic.

I went to school way before NCLB, I don't remember any kid failing a grade. I remember a few that didn't graduate on time, but none that failed in elementary or middle school.