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New Laws & district Policy
Before leaving office, Governor Wilson signed into law AB 1639, Pupil Promotion and Retention, which requires all school districts to establish a promotion and retention policy that is based on the student's achievement of grade-level standards for students between grade 2 and 3, grade 3 and 4, and grades 4 and 5, as well as between elementary and middle school and middle school and high school. The Desert Sands Unified School District Board of Education has passed a policy regarding the promotion and retention of students in compliance with the requirements of this law. The purpose of the law and the policy is to establish minimal levels of proficiency in reading, language arts and mathematics for promotion into the next grade and to establish supplemental instructional opportunities for students who might be retained or who have been retained so that a student can learn the required grade-level skills and meet grade level standards.
Briefly, the new law and our Board Policy require that the annual promotion of a student from one grade level to the next be based upon teacher-documented student achievement in specific subject areas. For example, the promotion of a student from second grade to third grade and from third grade to fourth grade must be based primarily upon skills in reading. The promotion of students from fourth grade to fifth grade, from elementary school to middle school, and from middle school to high school must be based upon achievement in reading, language arts and mathematics. The district has selected several measures of student achievement to make the decision to promote or retain a student. Interventions will be provided for students at risk for retention.
The policy also requires that students in grades 2 through 8 who are not meeting grade level standards and who are at risk of retention, or who have been retained, be provided with programs of supplementary instruction. Before and after school tutoring programs are available. Summer school attendance is mandatory.
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