Do you enjoy talking in circles? You're presuming that repeating a grade can't help a student learn the material. I disagree with that presumption.
Do you think the intent of school should be to punish children?
Of course not, the intent is to teach them. Do you think that graduating functional illiterates is the intent of school?
Look, we have more methods available to us today than they did in the good old days so we don't even need schools.
But those methods can't be employed for those students who are repeating a grade? Again, I disagree with your presumption.
You keep asking me if I want social promotions, but that's meaningless in light of the problem with the child who hasn't been already reading for 6 years by the the time he gets to 3rd grade.
I'm not asking if you want social promotions; you've already made it quite clear that you're all for social promotions. What I'm asking you to do is to point out the benefits of social promotions and, so far, you haven't.
You are dealing with a special needs kid ~ and you need to use different methods, not just hit him up side the head with the same old same old.
And you have based your special-needs assessment on what? Again, you're presuming something that isn't necessarily true. The tests don't only determine whether or not a kid can read. They also determine the student's reading proficiency. A third-grader who can't read at all should have been identified, possibly as a special-needs student, well before third grade. A struggling reader, on the other hand, could benefit from reviewing the third grade material before going on to fourth grade.
I view it as little more than a way of identifying future football players to give them an extra year of effective eligibility.