VIDALIA, La. &045; In between Alaska and Washington, D.C., renowned education spokesman Jim Grant is making a stop at the Comfort Suites of Vidalia.

Grant spoke to Concordia Parish School District administrators, principals and assistant principals Monday on common sense education and promoting students from grade to grade.

The mini-conference will continue today with sessions on instruction and textbooks.

Grant works with Staff Development for Educators Inc. and travels around the country doing similar seminars.

Monday afternoon’s session was aimed at helping the principals make the decision about promoting or retaining students at the end of the year.

Grant said he’s written several books on the topic and has always worried about the children who fail.

&uot;Never retain a child against the parents’ wishes, no matter how wrong they are,&uot; he said. &uot;That child needs to know there is a united front.&uot;

Grant recommended letting the child take an important role in deciding whether they go or stay. Children under third-grade shouldn’t make the final decision though, he said.

He also pointed out that physical attributes make a difference when retaining students. Teachers and principals should consider things like height before making the final move.

&uot;We don’t measure readiness in pounds and inches,&uot; he said. &uot;Premies are not as developed.&uot;

For a student that has been held back or promoted wrongly, third grade is the year it will show. Grant called third, seventh and ninth the trouble grades.

He urged administrators to always look at the cause behind student performance before instantly holding the child back. Absences and family moves are usually subsets of poverty, he said.

&uot;Think of retention as the intervention of last resort.&uot;

Children with emotional stress can be further harmed by failing a grade, and sometimes a counselor should be involved in the decision.

Ferriday Lower Assistant Principal Sheila Alwood said the information on retention was something she could put into use.

&uot;It’s just real useful tactics that he uses that we can feel comfortable using,&uot; she said.

&uot;It’s practical common sense to do what’s best for the child and see what a difference a year will make.

&uot;He’s just so renowned, and we are so fortunate to have him here.&uot;