Grade retention, the practice of holding a student back in the same grade, has been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. English learners, a growing population in US schools, are consistently identified for grade retention more often than their English-only counterparts. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of grade…

Research on multigrade in comparison to singlegrade classes often overlooks the issues and challenges facing the nation's educational authorities in administering these classes. The purpose of this study was to compare multi and singlegrade classes in terms of educational efficiency and effectiveness. The population of this study consisted of all…

The implications of the transition from elementary to middle school are of major concern for educators and researchers worldwide. Previous studies have yielded ambiguous findings; some have indicated negative outcomes of school transition, whereas others have demonstrated null or even positive effects. The aim of the current research was to…

Holding students back when they do not meet a specific attainment level is common practice in a lot of countries. However, this practice is not without controversy and recent studies point at the negative effects of grade retention, especially in the long-term. The majority of these studies focused on grade retention in primary education. In our…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether students retained in first grade, relative to similarly low-achieving students who were promoted, differed in the number of remedial educational services received by students in the pre-retention year and in the repeat year. Study participants were 769 relatively low-achieving first-grade…

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…

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship of the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program to mothers' involvement in education at home and school, student school readiness in kindergarten, and student academic outcomes at 3rd grade. HIPPY serves a mostly minority, low-income family population and…

Few researchers have addressed student achievement outcomes as a function of grade configurations for older elementary-aged students. Thus, this study was designed to determine differences between students' Grade 5 reading and mathematics achievement in elementary schools (K-5) as compared to intermediate schools (Grade 5, 5-6) for 5 academic…

Seemingly endless tinkering and adjustment of the structure of education in the United States over the past century have led to the adoption of different school forms (grouping particular grades into separate schools) at different times. These different school forms necessitate transitions between schools (e.g., from a middle school to a high…

Examines the effects of nonpromotion on achievement and effort of junior high school students. Finds that students who were retained improved significantly with respect to academic achievement and effort when compared to students who had been considered for retention but had been promoted. (KEH)

Study showed that levels of repetition and dropping out in the primary schools of 121 countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and the USSR from 1970 to 1980 remain very high. This educational wastage is costing a great deal of money. (RM)

The academic performance of 86 mainstreamed learning-disabled students was compared with that of 87 low-achieving students. Significant differences were found between the groups' grades in social studies and health but not in science. Of intelligence quotient, reading level, and absence rates, only absence rates differentiated between ninth grade…

Assessed impact of gender, ethnicity/home language, holding out, retention, and social promotion on first-grade achievement. Found that Latino students were more likely to be promoted to first grade, despite concerns about their performance, than were Anglo students. Interventions, such as retention, yielded no positive effects. (RJM)

Same-year and same-grade comparisons were made of a matched sample of students who had been retained in kindergarten for a second year and who had been promoted after 1 year from kindergarten within the Pasco County (Florida) School System. Retained subjects (n=34) consisted of kindergarten students enrolled in the system's developmental…

Effects of a measurement and planning system on the cognitive development, promotion, and referral to special education of 838 public school kindergartners were studied. The 428-member experimental group, whose 29 teachers implemented the system, had higher posttest scores in reading, mathematics, and science than did the 410-member control group.…