Effects Of Grade Retention Research Articles

The Effects of Grade Retention on High School Outcomes: Evidence from New York City Schools

This study examines the causal impact of grade retention on high school attainment outcomes. We use administrative data on New York City public school students and a regression discontinuity design based on test score cutoffs used to determine retention eligibility. For students scoring at the test score cutoff, grade retention reduces average high school credit accumulation and the likelihood of taking math and English Regents exams. For middle grade students at the test score cutoff, we also find that retention increases dropout and reduces the likelihood of completing Regents exam graduation requirements. We also explore potential mechanisms and find that retention increases placement into special education and makes future retentions of these students less likely.

Effects of grade retention in lower secondary education on students' self‐concept, self‐esteem, goal orientations, and school career

AbstractGrade retention is one of the most discussed and controversial educational measures, and yet, it is still widely applied in many countries. Research investigating the effects of grade retention on students' psychosocial variables presents mixed findings, partly due to the variables assessed, methodological issues, and the length of the studies. This study aimed to analyse both the short to medium and longitudinal effects of grade retention in grades 7 or 8 on Portuguese students' academic self‐concept, self‐esteem, goal orientations, and school career. Data were collected continuously over a 3‐year span (once a year) and, again, 3 years after the third wave. After matching 477 students on several pretreatment variables using inverse probability treatment weighting with time‐varying treatments (i.e., retention), our analytical sample consisted of 85 promoted students, 33 students retained in grade 7, and 32 students retained in grade 8. Our results showed that retained students did not differ from their promoted peers in self‐esteem and goal orientations in the short, medium, or long term. The exception was for an increase in the academic self‐concept of retained students, but only in short term. Finally, considering students' school career, grade retention was not predictive of further retention.

Retained for life: A longitudinal study on the effects of grade retention in secondary education on higher education enrollment and self-efficacy

Retained for life: A longitudinal study on the effects of grade retention in secondary education on higher education enrollment and self-efficacy

A signal of (Train)ability? Grade repetition and hiring chances

This article contributes to the nascent literature on the effect of grade retention in school on later labor market success. A field experiment is conducted to rule out the endogeneity of both outcomes. More concretely, various treatments of grade retention are randomly assigned to fictitious résumés sent in application to real vacancies. Overall, grade retention does not significantly affect positive call-back by employers. However, when narrowing in on vacancies for occupations where on-the-job training is important, job candidates with a record of grade retention are 16% less likely to receive a positive reaction. This finding is consistent with Queuing theory.

Critical Events throughout the Educational Career: The Effect of Grade Retention and Repetition on School-Aged Children's Well-Being.

More than 20% of all school-aged children in Germany experience a grade retention and repetition during the educational career which is likely to affect their well-being as a central element of school success. This study aims at revealing the temporal dynamics of general and school well-being around the event of grade retention (i.e., the year when the decision to repeat a grade is taken) and the subsequent grade repetition (i.e., the repeated school year) during secondary school in Germany. Longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) is used on native students attending grades 5 through to 12 (N = 4581 from originally 273 schools). Distributed fixed-effects regressions by gender and school type have been conducted, using satisfaction with school and life as outcomes. Although retention decisions often trigger an immediate decrease in students’ well-being, there arise still benefits from this event in the short-term, middle-term and long-term, though trajectories differ by gender and school type. Overall, it is necessary to promote students´ well-being throughout their educational career, particularly in those critical periods when they face grade retention. Results highlight that tailored programs for both genders and students in different school types should be provided to foster well-being during this phase.

A Signal of (Train)Ability? Grade Repetition and Hiring Chances

This article contributes to the nascent literature on the effect of grade retention in school on later labour market success. A field experiment is conducted to rule out the endogeneity of both outcomes. More concretely, various treatments of grade retention are randomly assigned to fictitious resumes sent in application to real vacancies. Overall, grade retention does not significantly affect positive call-back by employers. However, when narrowing in on vacancies for occupations where on-the-job training is important, job candidates with a record of grade retention are 16% less likely to receive a positive reaction. This finding is consistent with Queuing theory.

Effects of grade retention on students’ motivation: A longitudinal study over 3 years of secondary school.

Despite the fact that grade retention is now seen as controversial in many quarters, it remains common practice in numerous countries. Previous research on the effects of grade retention on student development has, however, generated ambiguous results, particularly in terms of motivational outcomes. This ambiguity has been attributed in part to a lack of high-quality studies including a longitudinal design, a suitable comparison group, and adequate statistical control of preretention differences. Based on longitudinal data of N = 3,288 German students over 3 years of secondary school, we examined differences in their academic self-concept, scholarly interests, learning motivation, and achievement motivation between those being retained in the 6th grade (n = 61) and those of the same age being promoted annually. To account for confounding variables, we applied full propensity score matching on baseline measures of the dependent variables, as well as various other covariates that have been found to be associated with the risk of retention (e.g., cognitive ability, academic performance, and family background variables). Results reveal a steep decline in students’ academic self-concept, interests, and learning motivation during the last months spent in the original class, just before retention. For those measures that were available, negative effects were still partly significant after 1 year, but had diminished 2 years after grade retention. Contrary to predictions suggested by the big-fish-little-pond effect, we found no positive effects of retention on students’ academic self-concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Don't Hold Back? The Effect of Grade Retention on Student Achievement

This study analyzes the effect of age-based retention on school achievement at different stages of education. I estimate an instrumental variable model, using the predicted probability of retention given month of birth as an instrument, while simultaneously accounting for the effect of month of birth on maturity at the time of testing. The analysis further assesses heterogeneity in retention effects by achievement, by background characteristics, and by type of skill. Using international data from multiple waves of the PISA international assessment test, I find that grade retention in primary school harms student achievement across the distribution, while delayed school entry can produce positive results for those at the lower end. The identified local average treatment effect indicates that letting students retain in primary school because of a low relative age is harmful for their future school achievement.

Doing it twice, getting it right? The effects of grade retention and course repetition in higher education

Many students who enter college are insufficiently prepared to follow a demanding college-level curriculum. Thus, higher education institutions often require low-performing students to repeat failed courses, a full term, or even a full year. This paper is the first to investigate the effects of such a “(grade) retention” policy on student performance in higher education. We study a setting where first-year undergraduates who fall short of a pre-defined performance requirement have to repeat all first-year courses before they can proceed to the second year. To determine the causal effect of retention and repetition on student performance, we apply a sharp regression discontinuity design to administrative data from a Swiss university. Based on a sample of 5000 students, we find that grade retention increases dropout probabilities after the first year by about 10 percentage points. Repetition of a full year persistently boosts grade point averages by about 0.5 standard deviations, but does not affect study pace and major choices.

Doing It Twice, Getting It Right? The Effects of Grade Retention and Course Repetition in Higher Education

Doing It Twice, Getting It Right? The Effects of Grade Retention and Course Repetition in Higher Education

The Scarring Effects of Primary-Grade Retention? A Study of Cumulative Advantage in the Educational Career

Triggering events and the scarring, or status-dependence, process they induce are an important cornerstone of social stratification theory that is rarely studied in the context of the educational career. However, the decades-old high-stakes environment that ties many educational outcomes to a test score or other singular achievement underscores the potential importance of scarring in the contemporary educational career. In this paper, I study scarring in the educational career in the case of primary-grade retention. Using propensity score matching and sibling fixed-effects models, I evaluate evidence for primary-grade retention effects on high school completion and college entry and completion. I find consistent evidence of a causal effect of early primary school grade retention on high school completion. These effects operate largely through middle school academic achievements and expectations, suggesting that students who recover from the scar of grade retention on high school completion largely do so earlier rather than later in the educational career. Students can continue to recover from the effects of grade retention through early high school, not only through their academic achievements but through their expectations of high school completion as well. Models suggest that early primary grade retention scars the educational career mainly at high school completion, though there are important, unconditional effects on college entry and completion as a result. I conclude by placing these findings in the larger grade-retention literature and discussing future research on heterogeneities in and mechanisms of retention effects.

Effect of retention in elementary grades on transition to middle school

The authors investigated the effects of retention in grades 1 to 5 on students' reading and math achievement, teacher-rated engagement, and student-reported school belonging in middle school. From a multiethnic sample (N=784) of children who scored below the median on a test of literacy in grade 1, an average of 75 students subsequently retained in grades 1 to 5 were matched with an average of 299 continuously promoted students on the basis of propensity to be retained in the elementary grades. A total of 20 imputed datasets were analyzed, all of which showed good balance across the 67 baseline covariates used to calculate propensity scores. The hypothesis that retained students, who are “old for grade” when they make the transition to middle school, would have a more difficult transition to middle school than promoted peers was tested with 3-level, piecewise growth modeling. Piece 1 included assessments prior to the transition to middle school, and piece 2 included assessments after the transition. Retained and continuously promoted students did not differ on any of the outcome measures during the year prior to transition, nor did they differ in their post-transition trajectories. Discrepancies between these results and results of prior research are discussed in terms of demographic and generational differences as well as differences in methodological rigor.

Effects of grade retention on achievement and self-concept in science and mathematics

The study analyzes the effects of grade repetition on science and mathematics achievement and on self-concept in mathematics using longitudinal data from a representative sample of 9th graders in Germany. Same-age comparisons were applied between three groups: (a) the retained students, (b) a matched group of promoted students, and (c) the entire group of promoted students. The results show that the retained students have a higher self-concept in mathematics after one year of retention than before. Summarizing these empirical findings concerning achievement, we conclude that retention in the 9th grade does not reduce the gap in academic achievement to the regular promoted students.

Effect of Grade Retention in First Grade on Psychosocial Outcomes.

In a 4-year longitudinal study, the authors investigated effects of retention in first grade on children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors; social acceptance; and behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement. From a large multiethnic sample (n = 784) of children below the median on literacy at school entrance, 124 retained children were matched with 251 promoted children on the basis of propensity scores (probability of being retained in first grade estimated from 72 baseline variables). Relative to promoted children, retained children were found to benefit from retention in both the short and longer terms with respect to decreased teacher-rated hyperactivity, decreased peer-rated sadness and withdrawal, and increased teacher-rated behavioral engagement. Retained children had a short-term increase in mean peer-rated liking and school belongingness relative to promoted children, but this advantage showed a substantial decrease in the longer term. Retention had a positive short-term effect on children's perceived school belonging and a positive longer term effect on perceived academic self-efficacy. Retention may bestow advantages in the short-term, but longer term detrimental effects on social acceptance may lead to the documented longer term negative effects of retention.

The Combined Effects of Grade Retention and Targeted Small-Group Intervention on Students' Literacy Outcomes

This study matched 15 kindergarten and 1st-grade retained students in 7 schools with their promoted peers on grade-level literacy performance. Researchers collected literacy assessments, demographic information, and instruction dosage data. Retained kindergarten students received less intervention and did not benefit academically from retention. Promoted 1st-grade students who received additional small-group interventions showed a nearly significant interaction effect. Results suggest that approximately 2.5 hr per school day of general education and small-group intervention literacy instruction is needed to bring students within average range. The article discusses instructional and policy implications.

Age appropriateness and motivation, engagement, and performance in high school: Effects of age within cohort, grade retention, and delayed school entry.

The present study examined the relative salience of age within cohort, grade retention, and delayed school entry (3 dimensions of age appropriateness) in 3,684 high school students' academic motivation, engagement, and performance. Structural equation modeling revealed that after the effects of demographic characteristics and grade retention were taken into account, little significant variance was explained by the linear effects of age within cohort, However, subsequent modeling incorporating nonlinear effects showed that the markedly older-for-cohort students (i.e., over the standard 12-month age range for a given cohort) and delayed-entry students (i,e., academic red shirts) experienced some academic disadvantage in motivation, engagement, and performance while the age-appropriate students (particularly the younger ones) fared best. Over and above demographic and age-within-cohort effects, the effects of grade retention were consistently negative. Taken together, data suggest that there appear to ie little or no motivation, engagement, or performance advantages to being markedly older-for-cohort, having delayed-entry status, or being retained in a grade.

The Effect of Grade Retention on Child Test Scores

Each year an estimated two million children in the United States repeat a grade. Investing an additional year in the same grade is expected to help a child to acquire the academic skills she lacks. This, in turn, would help her to be successful in higher grades. In spite of its popularity, grade retention remains a highly controversial practice. A majority of researchers find that repeating a grade is strongly correlated with the poor performance in test scores of repeaters. In this paper I examine whether repeating a grade adds value to the academic performance of repeaters as measured by their improvement in mathematics and reading test scores. I focus on retention in grades one to five. I use data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Child Survey. Using a difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimator I find that repeating a grade does not lead to an improvement in a repeaters' performance in these tests. On contrary, repeating a grade adversely affects their performance in these tests.

The Effect of Grade Retention on High School Completion

Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. In this paper, we use plausibly exogenous variation in retention generated by a test-based promotion policy to assess the causal impact of grade retention on high school completion. We find that retention among younger students does not affect the likelihood of high school completion, but that retaining low-achieving eighth grade students in elementary school substantially increases the probability that these students will drop out of high school. (JEL I21, J13)

The effect of grade retention on educational and labor market outcomes

Grade retention is a major issue in the ongoing debate over how to improve primary and secondary education in the United States. This paper examines the retention decision and its empirical effects using an economic framework. Within our model, the retention decision is endogenous with respect to such observables as dropping out of school and labor market earnings and this endogeneity needs to be accounted for in empirical work. In the empirical section of the paper we use the High School and Beyond (HSB) data set to examine the effects of retention on the probability of dropping out of high school and on labor market earnings several years after the student has entered the workforce. We account for the endogeneity of grade retention by using instrumental variables (IV) estimation where the key instrument is based on exogenous variation across states in kindergarten entry dates.

Effects of grade retention on academic performance and behavioral development.

This study examined the controversial practice of grade retention and children's academic and behavioral adjustment using data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children. We employed an autoregressive modeling technique to detect the impact of being held back during primary school on subsequent academic performance and behavioral development until age 12 years. The results indicate both a short- and long-term negative influence on academic performance for boys and girls. Children's anxious, inattentive, and disruptive behaviors persisted and, in some cases, worsened after grade retention. These prospective associations were long lasting and more pronounced when grade retention occurred early in primary school. Boys were more vulnerable to the negative influence of grade retention on academic performance and classroom disruptiveness. Disruptive behavior in girls was comparatively less associated with long-term consequences than boys. Nevertheless, girls experienced both short- and long-term academic performance problems in the aftermath of grade retention. Children's prosocial behavior appeared unaffected by grade retention. These results are independent of what would have been expected by the natural course of academic and behavioral development.