echoing the others By Cathy-Dee

I also have some that did well in first grade, but struggled in grade 2 or in further grades along the way. We can only cover so much each year and most teachers now realize that although we may be assigned a grade to teach, chances are we will have 4 or 5 different grade levels of abilities within our classroom. Even in Grade 1 I've had children who are below even a kindergarten level to ones who were able to math and reading work at a grade 4 or 5 level. We have to adapt for our students and it does make our job more difficult.

Personally if I have a student reading at or just below grade level and doing fine in math and the other subject areas I will pass them on to grade 2. If they are struggling in reading and math, I will generally hold them back. However their age also plays a factor. I have two who will be 8 by the end of the year (they didn't really attend school before coming to my school). So I can't hold them back as they will be too old to be in grade 1 and not able to fit in with their classmates. So I'll be sending them up on modified programs and they will most likely play catch-up for the rest of the school years.