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Kaplan Announces Special Programs for Long Beach Students at Risk of Being Retained

This week marked the arrival of this year’s Retention Letters for many Long Beach, California families, whose students who are at risk of repeating their current grade next year if they do not make significant progress by the August retention assessment.

“As a parent and as a child, receiving a Retention Letter is a very emotional and difficult experience, even if report cards throughout the year have shown that the student is falling behind,” says Andrea Berlin, Director of Academics at Kaplan Tutoring. “Deciding whether or not the child should repeat the grade is equally as difficult.”

What goes into the decision of whether or not to hold back a student? Report cards and state test scores are common metrics used to measure student achievement. Conduct in school can also be a factor. However, experts have mixed opinions about whether retention is helpful or harmful to a child’s academic and social development.

According to a statement from the National Association of School Psychologists, “initial achievement gains may occur during the year the student is retained,” however “retention is associated with significant increases in behavior problems,” even at elementary school and secondary school levels. These subsequent behavior problems “may result in the child being retained again.”

Fortunately, students at risk of being retained can still be promoted to the next grade level if they show significant improvement on an academic assessment in August. The only question is how to prepare.

“Tutoring can make a world of difference for students struggling to be promoted to the next grade level,” says Berlin. “Tutoring programs today offer more customized lessons, individual attention and faster academic progress than ever before.”

Kaplan Tutoring has announced special Summer Academy courses to help students in Long Beach at risk of being held back make academic progress before the August assessment. “A key part of our Summer Academy is that we partner with parents and teachers to understand why the student is at risk of repeating the grade, and combine that information with the results of a diagnostic assessment to create the right program for each student,” says Jason Thompson, Academic Director of Kaplan Tutoring Los Angeles. Summer Academy students then work with a motivating, expert tutor for 1 – 6 sessions per week to receive tutoring for math, reading or both.

Kaplan Tutoring has also announced an intensive reading intervention program for students significantly below grade level in reading, and for students struggling with learning disabilities and reading difficulties like dyslexia. The Kaplan SpellRead Reading Intervention Program is the #1 ranked program by the U.S. Department of Education for improving reading comprehension.

“We’re proud to help make a difference in the lives of these students by giving them the opportunity and the confidence to do their best,” says Thompson.