Investigated academic effects of early retention by comparing fourth graders who had been retained in kindergarten or first grade (n=40), were recommended for early retention but were not retained (n=17), or had normal progress (n=20). Found no significant differences in academic achievement between retained and recommended-for-retention groups;…

Evaluation of data on 689 Indiana students (ages 6-18) referred and identified as having learning disabilities indicated that 58 percent had been retained before identification, suggesting that retention is being used as remediation before labeling a student. Implications of this practice and alternatives to grade retention are considered.…

Presents samples of strategies some California schools use using to help students not meeting grade-level standards. Programs include "Success for All," individualized learning plans, afterschool tutorials, a parent math-refresher course, personalized assignments, and literacy labs. Program funding, evaluation methods, results, and…

Studied the reliability and validity of Light's Retention Scale (LRS) (H. Light, 1986), an instrument to evaluate whether a student would benefit from retention, with 93 Canadian students who had repeated an elementary school grade. Findings suggest that the LRS is not a reliable or valid instrument. Selected scale items did not predict…

Prior research examining children's ratings of stressful life events indicated that, by the time children are in sixth grade, they fear only going blind and losing a parent more than academic retention. The current study provides a contemporary analysis of elementary grade students' perceptions of stressful life events at home and school. First-,…

Stetson (1951) noted that repeating singleton coda consonants at fast speech rates makes them be perceived as onset consonants affiliated with a following vowel. The current study documents the perception of rate-induced resyllabification, as well as what temporal properties give rise to the perception of syllable affiliation. Stimuli were…

This brief summarizes the findings of the larger study, "Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems into Effective Educational Systems. A Study of Juvenile Justice Schools in the South and the Nation." With awareness growing that schools are disciplining and suspending minority students at alarming rates, the…

With awareness growing that schools are disciplining and suspending minority students at alarming rates, the report provides powerful evidence that young people placed in the juvenile justice system-predominately minority males incarcerated for minor offenses-are receiving a substandard education. The report, "Just Learning: The Imperative to…

In this appendix to our Occasional Paper, we review 14 recent rigorous studies on how entrance age affects student outcomes in the short and long term, paying particular attention to aspects that are most relevant to state-level policy decisions. We summarize findings related to elementary and secondary academic achievement, grade retention,…

This study duplicated the procedures used by Greene and Winters (2006) on data from the Miami-Dade school system with the advantage of an additional two year's worth of information. The results indicated that the effects of the retention policy are far from clear and arguably negative. There is considerable evidence to suggest that the apparent…

This report describes various methods for computing graduation and completion rates, and how they compare.

This paper examines whether having school students repeat a year improves their performance, focusing on learning English as a foreign language. It takes students' English examination results from five years from a Chinese-medium school, together with data on their learning styles and learning strategies. Drawing on local cultural and pedagogic…

This summary presents highlights of "The Cost Burden to Minnesota K-12 when Children Are Unprepared for Kindergarten" [ED511612]. A number of studies document the long-term public and societal benefits of early childhood education, including the reduced costs associated with child welfare, public assistance, crime and incarceration, and…

This article presents a summary of results from a Swiss nationwide empirical study of the determinants of grade retention, its effects on learning, and its social and emotional consequences. Results show that the decision for grade retention does not rest only on the pupil's actual academic performance but also on the teacher's attitudes and…

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…