Grade Retention Research

More and more students are being held back, but experts warn that the risks may outweigh the benefits. When my son Sammy started kindergarten, I looked forward to our first parent-teacher conference, imagining all the wonderful things the teacher would say about his interest in history and his precocious verbal skills.

Most kindergarten teachers at one time or another have to have that difficult conversation with parents in regards to retention. In the course of my 20+ years as an educator, I too have had this conversation. Recommending retention for a child never comes easily. There are many factors that need to be considered.

The already muddy research on whether it's better to hold back struggling students or promote them to the next grade just got muddier. A new study ,"The Scarring Effects of Primary-Grade Retention? A Study of Cumulative Advantage in the Educational Career," by Notre Dame sociologist Megan

The research herein benefited from support by the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (NIA P30 AG017266) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The author thanks Robert Hauser, Carl Frederick, Rob Warren, Bill Carbonaro, participants of the Center for Demography and Ecology's Seminar, and four anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Across our country, from 10 to 30 percent of kindergarten children are retained in kindergarten or placed in "transitional" classes. These children are failing kindergarten because they are presumably not ready for the rigors of first grade. Yet the early years of schooling are crucial in determining the child's long-term attitudes towards self, teachers and learning.

"I am struggling with being forced to suggest retention for a student and it's the reason I'm reading research studies, articles and notes from parents who have "been there" with their children. I'm not a fan of retention. However, there is so much pressure in schools for chn.

This article discusses in depth about grade retention. It talks about the prevalence and cost of retention as well as academic achievement.