Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?

Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?
This headline is taken from the June 26, 2008 edition of the New York Times. The answer to the question is that failure is always stigmatizing to students in school. This is true of all grade levels. The school district initiating the retention of 12% of its first graders is East Ramapo school district. If this school district is aware that twelve percent of its student population is deficient then why not have pre-first grade interventions that prevent rather than intervene? Certainly the pre-first grade prevention approach is most beneficial to all ---- especially the children being stigmatized by the choice of the district board and administration.
Points of reference on tracking
Academic Tracking the practice of grouping students according to ability and placing these students into separate curricula tracks or courses. The tracks cover distinctly different material, are binding across all academic subjects, and often lead to different destinations upon graduation from high school.
This quote is drawn from the definitions of terms phrase of a North Carolina standards document.
What federal law says?
Assignment to Classes
Schools may not segregate students on the basis of race, color, or national origin in making classroom assignments. Some schools offer courses of study that result in the assignment of students to classes with a substantially disproportionate number of minority or nonminority students. Schools must be able to demonstrate valid and nondiscriminatory reasons for such assignments. For example, valid educational reasons may exist when a class provides specially designed instruction to enable limited-English proficient students to acquire English language skills. Students may be assigned to such courses only when appropriate and nondiscriminatory evaluation, placement, and exiting criteria and procedures are followed.
This is taken from
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Prohibits Discrimination in Assigning Students to Schools, Classes or Courses of Study in Programs or Activities That Receive Federal Financial Assistance