Mom Says Her 5th-Grade Son Reads On A 1st-Grade Level But The School Won’t Hold Him Back
She claimed her son's school is refusing to listen to her concerns about his reading level.
Levranii / Shutterstock A mom is questioning whether her son's school has the authority to go above her head and refuse to hold back her child, who is not reading at the level that he should be.
In a TikTok video, an education expert named Karen Mayer Cunningham listened to the unnamed mother's concerns and provided some insight of her own.
The anonymous mom's 5th-grade son is reading at a 1st-grade level, and the school won't hold him back.
The young boy's mother informed Cunningham that her son is on an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) — a specific program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability receives specific instructions and related resources. She shared that, despite being in the fifth grade, her son is reading at a first-grade level, and his school doesn't seem to care.
"We want to hold him back, but the school district says we can't," she told Cunnigham. "Can they just tell us no?"
Cunningham explained that holding a student back is a decision made by the administration, not those involved with her child's IEP. She claimed that retention is a greatly-contested topic and that there is "much academia both ways about retention."
"My child was retained in Kindergarten," Cunningham shared. "I'm a huge proponent of parents deciding if it's right for their child to retain them in Kindergarten if they're not anywhere near meeting the state standards for Kindergarten."
However, she observed that as children get older, retention can be more difficult because of the relationships they've formed with their peers. According to the Stowell Learning Center, by second or third grade, the child and their peers often view retention as a form of failure, which can add a new layer of challenges for them. While success can be found, it often means that that student would have to transfer schools to achieve the results that the parents are looking for.
Cunningham reiterated that the decision of retention is ultimately up to the administration and whether or not they feel it's necessary after thorough discussions with the parents. Still, she specified that, in this case, she would not be for retaining the young boy to catch him up in reading.
Most elementary school children today are significantly behind in reading.
The reason that elementary school-aged children are down multiple reading levels likely has to do with underfunded schools, teacher shortages, and the months of lost learning that happened during the pandemic. Many children are still trying to play catch-up. However, this reading problem has been the case for a few decades at this point.
According to the Education Department's National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as "The Nation's Report Card," roughly one-third of American fourth graders read at or below what's considered the basic level. This has been the case since 1992.
Scores were found to have slightly increased as students get older, but not by much. In eighth grade, about one-fourth of students do not read at what's considered the basic achievement level. That percentage stays about the same for high schoolers.
The question of who is at fault for these low reading levels is debatable.
According to a special education teacher named Mash, who has worked in public education for the better part of a decade, the schools are to blame as it's their job to teach kids how to read — not parents.
The parents' job is to support their children by making money, providing a loving environment, and sending them to school so they can get an education.
Additionally, many educators and parents alike blame the prioritization of children learning sight words rather than phonics in schools. Sight words refer to an approach in which students memorize entire words rather than learning to actually sound out letters.
However, even when students are performing below the expected reading level, teachers say they have no power to retain them.
As Cunningham explained, decisions regarding retention are ultimately made by the administration — not parents or teachers.
A music teacher named Teresa Kaye Newman backed up this point and explained that a lot of the time, teachers are forced by school administration to pass students on to the next grade, even when they are clearly struggling.
"Admin is basically telling me, 'You’ve got to do this, and you’ve got to get these numbers, or you’ve gotta get kids to a certain point, where they are all playing instruments and all performing at a certain level. You just don’t have a choice,'" she said.
"Teachers are forced to pass them on to the next grade level. We’re forced to give them grades above a 50," she continued. "Whenever we have a kid that doesn’t understand the words on the page, we have to feed them the curriculum and the material in such a way where they don’t have to read."
The structure of the education system is seemingly not built to handle and help students who are behind in their classes. Instead, they are turning a blind eye, and while teachers are fighting tooth and nail, they can't go up against the school admin and the district without fear of losing their jobs. This only ends up being a disservice to children, especially when school is supposed to be a place where their minds are nurtured, and education is available to them at every corner.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.