LSNYC-Bronx Fights Social Promotion for Special Needs Student

Legal Services NYC-Bronx Staff Attorney Nelson Mar is representing the
Colon family, who are fighting to keep their special education student
son, Cristian, from being socially promoted into a higher grade before
he is academically ready. The September 7th NY Daily News has their story.  

From the piece:

Special education student Cristian Colon had a hard time last year in fifth grade at Public School 108, struggling to read and failing his state exams. Still he was moved up to the sixth grade.

"They are insisting on promoting him when he can't even handle third, fourth and fifth grade," his mom, Rose Colon, said.
"He told me in tears. He's tired of pretending to read. He's so bored."

Parents rarely request their children be held back, largely because the Bloomberg administration has aimed to end so-called social promotions. Under a key and controversial reform, the city now requires schools to hold back students who do not hit a minimum level on the state exams.

Exceptions are allowed for special needs students like Cristian, who have lower standards for grade advancement.

But under that standard, Cristian falls further behind each year, the family's lawyer, Nelson Mar, said.

Mar noted that the special education plan for Cristian requires him to learn just 20% to 30% of the material in fifth grade – but then at least half the material in sixth.

"That is part of the problem here. They set the bar so low," said Mar, who works for Legal Services in the Bronx.

"Essentially, he's going into the sixth grade with very little mastery of fifth-grade work. In some ways this is really setting him up to not be capable of meeting the standards of a high school diploma."

Read more at NYDailyNews.com.