Baltimore City WON'T Hold Back Students Who Have Failing Grades!

SANTELISES: “Thanks for having me. One of the things that I think that is important for folks to know is we had a group of really thoughtful teachers, school leaders, we received feedback from families, as well as the work of our central office staff. And one of the messages that was very clear is that this is a once in a century type of challenge that has impacted families and communities very differently. So the goal was not to penalize young people for that, but to make sure that they had the skills that they needed. And one of the best ways to do that that we’re seeing in the research is acceleration, it is not having kind of mass holding back or mass retention of students. So that is really what drove the decision.”