Schools should encourage achievement, not foster mediocrity

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More than two decades ago, Regina Public Schools quietly adopted a no-fail policy, advancing students to the next grade whether they mastered the material or not. Some argue that holding students back adds to the system’s costs, so no-fail policies save money. Others claim it protects children’s self-esteem.

In practice, it has done neither. It has left students unprepared, parents frustrated and teachers powerless.

While walking door to door as a candidate for the Regina Public School Board last year, one grandmother told me how the policy robbed her of the joy of seeing her grandchildren regularly. Her son, his spouse and their children had moved to Regina from P.E.I. Their daughter had just failed Grade 4, so they registered her again in Grade 4. The Regina school said no: she would be placed in Grade 5. The family moved back to P.E.I. before school began.

The quiet failure of no-fail policies.

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Another mother described how her son struggled with Grade 4 math. She got letters throughout the year telling her that her son wasn’t getting it, but at year’s end he was promoted with a glowing report card congratulating him on his “achievement.” “It........

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