Examines individual and household characteristics that affect the probability of a boy or girl attending and completing primary school in two regions of Ethiopia. Finds that school attendance was related to household wealth, parents' education, and child's nutritional status, while completion was affected more by economic constraints and, for…

Surveys parents, students, teachers, and administrators in one Ohio school district about Senate Bill 55, which prohibits promoting to fifth grade any fourth grade student who fails the fourth grade proficiency test. Argues that legislators determined what is best for students without educators' input, and that the public still has a lot to learn…

This practicum was designed to improve the process used to identify kindergarten and first-grade children who are at risk for academic failure and may need to be referred for a comprehensive special education evaluation. Prior to the practicum, the screening process consisted of a curriculum-based readiness measure which failed to identify…

"A Vision for the Future" is a comprehensive long-range plan to study, develop, implement, and evaluate an ambitious dropout reduction program in the Charleston (South Carolina) School District. The program entails: (1) improved data reporting on student performance, grade retention, and attrition to identify dropout indicators and risk…

This paper synthesizes a study designed to identify the factors that contribute to primary school repetition and dropout in Honduras. Data were collected by record reviews; teacher, student, and parent interviews; and a test of Spanish. The sample included 1,253 students in grades 1 and 3 in 40 schools in rural Honduras. The main findings of the…

This report analyzes a set of interlocking placement and labeling practices that heavily influence access to educational opportunities in the nation's largest urban school systems. The practices analyzed include high school admission, within-school tracking and grouping, and grade promotion and retention. Study conclusions and related…

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…

A study examined the performance on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) for first grade students from a rural northwestern school who had received reading instruction via a structured, phonics-based reading program. Specifically, the study compared the performance of (1) three students scheduled for retention because of poor…

The Austin (TX) Independent School District presents its second report to the Texas Education Agency concerning the Summer School Pilot 1983. It contains a final report summary, a teacher checklist, and an observation followup. The report summary includes the following major findings: (1) retainees who attended summer school and those who did not…

This technical report documents staff and parent reactions to the 1982 Austin (TX) Independent School District summer school for retainees, provides data on fall teachers' assessment of retainee skills, and describes the nature of the long-term comparison group. A summary of this information plus appendices detailing the purpose, procedures, and…

This study represents a further attempt to establish the long-term predictive validity of teachers' grade 1 early identification (EID) ratings by relating them to students' educational status and performance on standardized tests of ability and achievement in grade 7. (EID ratings consist of a simple scale that ranks a student's preparedness for…

This report from the Bethune Elementary School in Atlanta (Georgia) provides information on student achievement for the 1986-87 school year. The narrative presents 27 findings concerning enrollment, attendance, reading achievement, and math achievement. Conclusions generated from these findings are the following: (1) the school was below the…

This article examines recent research on full- and extended-day kindergarten programs held every day. Preceding the review are general comments concerning methodological concerns and a description of essential features of the literature. The review is organized in terms of specific end-of-year effects because administrators seeking justification…

This publication focuses on the retention/promotion debate regarding failing and low-achieving students. An introductory essay describes the inherent limitation in the research done on this issue--the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate control group--and suggests that the retention/promotion quandary can best be resolved by accommodating…

Ten annotations of literature in the ERIC system that discuss the pros and cons of grade retention for low-achieving students are presented in this booklet. (Author/MLF)