Though early childhood literature defines kindergarten readiness in the context of the whole child across multiple domains, there is little research to demonstrate the relative influence of these domains on success in the kindergarten year. In this study, we use teacher judgments of students at the start of the kindergarten year across multiple…

The authors examined long-term outcomes for children who experienced delayed entry to kindergarten or kindergarten retention. They used a cohort of 6,841 students to compare these groups to each other and typically progressing peers. First, the authors compared the groups on demographic and early childhood variables. For the long-term school-based…

This is an impact evaluation of the Technical Support to Failing Schools Program, a Chilean compensatory program that provided 4-year in-school technical assistance to low-performing schools to improve students' academic achievement. The author implemented a quasi-experimental design by using difference-in-differences estimation combined with…

The authors examined the developmental pathways between high school graduates and dropouts. The authors obtained official school data via a random sample of 119 students enrolled across 4 cohorts. The authors postulated 2 research questions: (a) Do differences exist in the developmental pathways of high school graduates in comparison with high…

Surveyed public elementary schools to determine whether they used special-education personnel on their intervention-assistance teams, grouping schools according to their inclusion or noninclusion of special educators and comparing the groups for rate of student retentions and special-education referrals. There were fewer retentions and…

Investigated the occurrence of grade retention across all socioeconomic classes in urban and suburban populations, focusing on the effects of alcohol abuse, school suspension, violence, and lack of discipline in the home. Surveys of 243 African-American adolescent boys indicated that there was a positive association between number of suspensions…

Assessment of the relationships among self-concept, motivation, teacher, student, and parent attitudes, and achievement with students academically held back showed significant improvement in primary and intermediate grade retainees but not for secondary school students. Attitude scales also showed decreasing effectiveness of retention at higher…

Investigated relations between certain antecedent variables in Lebanese students' academic history and home environment and frequency of grade repetition. Information from 1,633 retainees representing all grade levels indicated that most entered school early, experienced frequent repetitions, and changed schools. Most were male, over-age for their…

Urban elementary school teachers completed a checklist designed to determine a profile of the most significant factors that caused students to be at risk. Results indicated there were eight important factors: academic risk, behavior and coping skills, social withdrawal, family income, parenting, language development, retention, and attendance. (SM)

This study examined retention in grades K-8 using data from the 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study. Male, minority, and lower socioeconomic status (SES) students were more likely to be retained. Retention related to less optimal academic and personal-social outcomes, particularly for female, white, and higher SES students. (SM)

Identified the effects of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and basic skills performance on grade failure, course failure, scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, and attendance of middle school students placed in behavioral classrooms. Computerized data from two schools indicated that SES and basic skills performance…