Schools fail when students fail

Kudos to the Manatee County School District officials who declined to promote third-grade students (and parents) who opted out of taking the third-grade Florida Standards Assessments.

If a child who might be 8 years old fails to pass a simple test to make certain that he or she is able to continue on to fourth-grade academics, the fault does not fall on the child or parent, the fault lies with the teacher and school administration.

A professional teacher should be able to identify students who may need extra help so the children can move on and be able to pursue fourth-grade academics and beyond.

Not every child matures at the same rate and may need a little extra help. This does not mean that the child should be left back, but given extra attention.

It is at this early age that we identify students who need extra help, not when it is too late. A failure rate of 29 percent is totally unacceptable.

If we continue to ignore the needs of these students, the prospects of ensuring a high school diploma become increasingly difficult and even more difficult to further their education beyond high school. We must ask ourselves why the wealthiest country in the world that spends more money on education than any other country only ranks eighth among the more advanced countries.

This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Schools fail when students fail."