The promotion/retention policy will be carried out according to the following procedures:

1. General Procedures - Promotion
In general, students are expected to be promoted from grade to grade sequentially. Occasionally a student may be promoted non-sequentially (i.e., “skip a grade”) because of exceptional circumstances as determined by the building principal.

2. General Procedures - Retention

a. Recommendations for retention should be made to the school principal by the staff who work directly with the student, or by a parent/guardian.

b. No student shall be retained more than once in any single grade, kindergarten through sixth grade.

c. The principal will be the final determiner for retention except for students with disabilities and students identified for ELL services.

d. The decision to retain a student who qualifies for special education services will be based on the recommendation to the principal from the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

e. The decision to retain a student identified as ELL will be based on the recommendation to the principal from the Language Learning department.

3. Communication
Pursuant to Policy and Procedure 2420, teachers should be regularly updating the online gradebook and communicating with families about their child’s progress toward standards. Teachers should also be using conferences and other opportunities to alert students and their families about the student’s current grade(s) or progress towards competency and to facilitate a conversation about what the student needs to be successful.

4. Parent Request for Review

a. If a recommendation is made to retain a student, the parent/guardian may request that the building principal review that decision.

b. If the decision at the school is to move forward with retention, the parent/guardian may appeal that decision to the Superintendent by contacting the Superintendent’s office.

c. The Superintendent/designee will review the data used by the school that led to the retention decision.

d. If requested, the Superintendent/designee will schedule a conference with the parent/guardian and will invite the school team to attend if determined to be appropriate.

e. In the event an appealed decision is overturned by the Superintendent/designee, the school team involved will be invited to provide a statement for the record in which they address the matter of accountability as provided in RCW 28A.150.240.

Highline School District 401
Adopted by the Board: August 1984
Revised by the Superintendent: 03.93, 01.08, 05.16, 01.22, 03.24