Middle school transitions are increasingly required, despite documented negative effects on general education students (GENs). We explore if and how the move to middle school differentially affects students with disabilities (SWDs), a large and low-performing group. Using an instrumental variables strategy and New York City (NYC) data on nine…

The long-term effects on academic self-concept of grade retention are unclear. The objective is to examine the progression of academic self-concept in relation to school performance for retained students and non-retained students. The academic self-concept of 5712 students (1381 retained students) was evaluated at the fourth and eighth grade of…

There is a wide debate on the convenience of grade retention for students' future cognitive development. Nevertheless, due to the endogenous characteristics of grade retention to explain students' academic performance, most of the literature fails in capturing its actual influence. In the present research, we intend to get as close as possible to…

We study the peer effects of grade retention in the context of Indiana's statewide third-grade retention policy. When a retention occurs, it changes the peer group for two cohorts: rising fourth graders who lose a peer and rising third graders who gain a peer. We identify peer effects in both cohorts by leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in…

We propose a novel estimator for use in a fuzzy regression discontinuity setting. The estimator can be thought of as extrapolating the traditional fuzzy regression discontinuity estimate or as an observational study that adjusts for endogenous selection into treatment using information at the discontinuity. We show that it can be motivated as…

Schools start early in the morning all over the world, contrasting with adolescents' late chronotype. Interestingly, lower academic performance (i.e. grades or qualifications) was associated with later chronotypes. However, it is unclear whether it is a direct effect of chronotype or because students attend school too early to perform at their…

How will climate change impact education since near-universal primary education has been achieved in many developing countries? We begin to answer this by studying a recent severe drought in Southern Africa. Using data from a large cluster-randomized control trial involving girls and satellite data measuring drought intensity, we find that drought…

Having a low sense of belonging in secondary education is associated with feelings of social alienation, lower school performance, and dropping out early. Based on person-environment fit theory, we expect retained students to experience a misfit with their academic environment. This experience could intensify when there are fewer other retained…

This purpose of this Research Brief is to analyze trends and general patterns of student in-grade retention among students in grades K-8 within the Miami-Dade County Public School (M-DCPS) for the 2022-2023 school year. While in-grade retention in grades 9-12 may occur due to the lack of credit in one or more courses, students often recover these…

Background: Grade retention is an educational aspect that concerns teachers, families, and experts. It implies an economic cost for families, as well as a personal cost for the student, who is forced to study one more year. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of course repetition on math, science and reading competencies, and…

This paper describes some indicators of the Colombian educational system considering the effect of the pandemic and assesses the causal effect of an alternation plan between face-to-face and remote education, conducted in 2020, on the results of an achievement test. Indicators reveal that the pandemic caused a greater demand for education services…

Grade-level retention is a common educational practice with the goal of improving academic performance, but the evidence of its influence is mixed. This study examines the academic effect of repeating kindergarten, first grade, second grade, or third grade on English Language Arts performance at the end of fourth grade. This study also examines…

Previous studies on the impact of grade retention on academic self-concept suffer from inconclusive findings. There is no consensus if retention yields long-term benefits that could offset its opportunity costs and, if so, under what conditions. Therefore, this article examines whether grade retention decreases academic self-concept and whether…

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the digital competence of Higher Education students, as a function of their academic performance (have either repeated or a not previously), as well as to predict its significant predictors. For this, an ex-post factor and a sample of 17301 students from Chile (Latin America) were utilized. A…

We estimate the relationship between exclusionary discipline given in eighth-grade and the probability of ninth-grade retention. We use a rich 7-year, student-level, panel data set from Arkansas. We use a novel approach by limiting our sample to students who switch schools between eighth and ninth grades. This movement gives each student a fresh…