Abstract
Keeping students back in the same grade – retention – has always been a controversial issue in Education, with some defending it as a beneficial remedial practice and others arguing against its detrimental effects. This paper undertakes an analysis of this issue, focusing on the differences in student motivation and self-related variables according to their retention related status, and the interrelationship between retention and these variables. The participants were 695 students selected from two cohorts (5th and 7th graders) of a larger group of students followed over a 3-year project. The students were assigned to four groups according to their retention-related status over time: (1) students with past and recent retention; (2) students with past but no recent retention; (3) students with no past but recent retention; (4) students with no past or recent retention. Measures of achievement goal orientations, self-concept, self-esteem, importance given to school subjects and Grade Point Average (GPA) were collected for all students. Repeated measures MANCOVA analyses were carried out showing group differences in self-esteem, academic self-concept, importance attributed to academic competencies, task and avoidance orientation and academic achievement. To attain a deeper understanding of these results and to identify profiles across variables, a cluster analysis based on achievement goals was conducted and four clusters were identified. Students who were retained at the end of the school year are mainly represented in clusters with less adaptive motivational profiles and almost absent from clusters exhibiting more adaptive ones. Findings highlight that retention leaves a significant mark that remains even when students recover academic achievement and retention is in the distant past. This is reflected in the low academic self-concept as well as in the devaluation of academic competencies and in the avoidance orientation which, taken together, can undermine students’ academic adjustment and turn retention into a risk factor.
Highlights
The organization of the school curriculum in an increasing level of complexity in terms of knowledge learned by students requires that teachers assess whether students are able or not to move to the grade on an annual basis
Detailed analysis on the mean values demonstrated that the group with past and recent retention presented the lowest values in self-esteem and self-concept, and this group along with the group with no past but with recent retention presented the greatest decrease and the lower values in achievement
In relation to academic achievement results showed that retention status differentiates students, with successful students showing the highest grades followed by students with past but no recent retentions (PR – NRR) which remain in the middle range between successful students and those who were retained at the end of the year (PR – RR and NPR – RR)
Summary
The organization of the school curriculum in an increasing level of complexity in terms of knowledge learned by students requires that teachers assess whether students are able or not to move to the grade on an annual basis. Some research points to the benefits of grade retention for student achievement (e.g., Allen et al, 2009; Lorence, 2014) while other research states that holding students back a year does not improve or can even be detrimental to their academic outcomes (e.g., Jimerson et al, 1997; Jimerson, 2001; Wu et al, 2008b; Chen et al, 2010; Moser et al, 2012) This lack of consistency is mainly a result of the different justifications and forms of implementation of the practice and is due to methodological and measurement problems and sample characteristics of the studies (Jimerson et al, 1997; Jimerson, 1999, 2001; Lorence, 2006, 2014; Allen et al, 2009). Allen et al (2009) in their meta-analysis of 22 studies concluded that the effects of retention are less negative than often claimed or have a neutral impact on student achievement
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