Student retention has been a divisive educational question since the turn of the century. And although early educators found that retention was not particularly effective, they continued using it because their options were limited. Today, educators have many options to retention. Using the database from Project STAR, a study explored the common…

Retention of students began soon after the introduction of graded elementary schools in the mid-1800s. As early as 1911, research started to show that retention failed to remedy the difficulties of academic achievement and social adjustment exposed through graded schools. Educators today have a number of options other than retention designed to…

The Pre-First classes in Springfield Local Schools, Holland, Ohio, are designed to serve developmental needs of primary school children. The district-wide program serves children of normal intelligence who are developmentally young. A screening and placement process is used. Children are placed in the classes only by parental consent to the…

In the Louisiana Basic Skills Testing (BST) program, initiated in 1982, criterion-referenced tests of language arts and mathematics were administered to all second grade students. Longitudinal data over three years tracked four cohorts of students to address when retention appears to be most effective and whether a combination of repeated…

This paper presents a follow-up study of the academic performance of children who had previously participated in one of eight experimental infant or preschool education projects. The initial phase of the study compared grade retention, special class placement and school dropout rates of the experimental program children with those of children in…

Three types of intervention strategies are helping children make a successful transition into kindergarten: early intervention programs, school survival skill training, and delayed school entry. Early intervention programs are early childhood and preschool programs such as Head Start. The overall long-term effectiveness of such programs has…

Meta-analysis of 17 studies was conducted to determine the effectiveness of retaining elementary school students in grade. Calculations with data from the 17 studies produced 217 effect size measures, most of which were measures of differences in reading and mathematics achievement. Some measures of differences in social adjustment, behavior, and…

In 1997 the Board of Education of the Durham (North Carolina) Public Schools passed a policy that required all students performing below grade level on the Eighth Grade Competency Test in either reading or mathematics to attend summer school and demonstrate progress in order to be eligible for promotion to the next grade. This requirement was…

One of a series of studies examining Louisiana's compensatory education program, this study investigated four assumptions upon which a skill-specific intervention program was based. Framed as questions, these assumptions are: (1) Is retention effective for students who do not know basic content for a given grade level? (2) When is retention most…

The effects of an extra-year transition program after kindergarten on fourth grade students' achievement and self-esteem levels were examined in this study using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Stanford Achievement Test. Fourth grade students from a school district in central Alabama who had participated in the extra-year…

Despite advances in primary school enrollment and completion in recent years, school completion in rural areas of Guatemala is low. The problem is especially severe among indigenous female students, where only about one in eight completes primary school. In 1997, the Guatemalan government launched an ambitious program designed to assist poor…

The study reported here examined the long term performance of three groups of children who attended the Head Start program in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. The students attended Head Start as preschoolers in 1970-71, 1974-75, and 1978-79, and were in grades 4, 8, and 12, respectively, during the 1983-84 school year. The…

As part of the Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk, this study evaluated the Child Parent Center (CPC) Program, a preschool to third grade intervention program funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Chapter I. Subjects were 915 low-income black children from 20 inner-city schools who were differentially exposed to…

The Neighborhood Schools Project in Iowa was designed to evaluate a new special education service delivery system emphasizing prereferral intervention, collaboration, problem solving assessment, and frequent performance monitoring. Approximately 130 students with Individualized Educational Plans at 12 schools and an equal number at comparison site…