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NEW YORK, NY January 15, 2004 — Starting this fall, city third graders who don't score high enough on their math and reading tests will not be promoted to the next grade. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced the details of this plan to end social promotion earlier today. About 15 thousand third graders were promoted last year even though they failed their exams. As WNYC's Beth Fertig reports, the Chancellor's new policy is a major change.

One year ago, Mayor Bloomberg rolled out his plan to overhaul the school system. Today, Chancellor Joel Klein ALSO used the occasion of Doctor Martin Luther King's birthday to announce the next big stage of that reform.

Speaking at the Shomburg Center in Harlem, Klein said too many poor and minority students wind up leaving high school without the skills they need to function in the workplace. Klein pledged to turn that around by paying more attention to the early grades. That's why, he said, third graders who don't score at least a level 2 out of 4 on their math and reading tests won't be promoted to the fourth grade. But Klein also said the school system would do more to help them.

KLEIN: Students requiring academic intervention will have the same rich curriculum as everyone else in the system. But this time struggling students will be guided in their studies by teachers who have the specialized training and tools to make a difference.

He said these Student Success Teams would review the needs and progress of struggling students in each school.

But relying on one test to determine whether a third grader is left behind marks a major change of policy. Currently, teachers are allowed some discretion in deciding whether a child simply had a bad day on the exam - or did well enough in other areas.

Education experts have warned against holding back students based solely on a single test. The National Academies called it poor policy if educators don't identify a child's learning problems early on. But Deputy Chancellor Diana Lam says the city will address that. She says struggling students may be sent to small instruction groups after school and on vacation days. And she says there will be a new summer academy for second and third graders at risk. One that seeks to engage the children.

LAM: I mean we want to have frequent visits to the libraries, museums, participate in sports in some fashion. We want to work very closely with every parent of a third grade student who's in jeopardy of not being promoted.

But the summer academy would only be voluntary. In addition, the intervention teams described by the chancellor already exist, thanks to new math and literacy coaches hired in September. It's not clear how much would change.

Lam says the Education Department plans to spend 25 million dollars on professional development and summer school for third graders. Previous chancellors have tried to end social promotion. Now that Mayor Bloomberg is in charge of the schools, he'll have his own chance just as he gears up for a re-election campaign in 2005. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.