Uses event-history analysis to explore whether and how grade retention influenced graduation outcomes for a cohort of 707 youths from an urban school system. Repeating a grade from kindergarten to grade 6 was associated with an increase in the odds of dropping out. Explores the impact of being over age for grade. (SLD)

Discusses the notion of social promotion versus grade repetition, arguing that neither approach represents an appropriate solution for enhancing the learning outcomes of low-performing students and closing the achievement gaps among students of various ethnic groups. Offers a learner-centered approach as a viable alternative and a mechanism for…

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…

Using 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (n=7,787), the relationship between Head Start and school suspensions, grade repetition, and math achievement was examined. Estimates indicate that Head Start does not have long-term benefits, a finding compatible with studies showing that compensatory preschool programs need to be long in…

Examines the likely effect of grade retention on high-school dropout rate and post-high-school labor-market earnings. Uses High School and Beyond data set. Reports different estimated coefficients using ordinary least-squares versus using instrumental variables that account for endogeneity. (Contains 36 references.) (PKP)

Reviews research and then describes five alternative strategies to social promotion and grade retention: Intensify learning, provide professional development to ensure skilled teachers, expand learning options, assess to inform teaching, and intervene early and often. (Contains 33 references.) (PKP)

The association between executive function deficits (EFDs) and functional outcomes were examined among children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were children and adolescents with (n = 259) and without (n = 222) ADHD, as ascertained from pediatric and psychiatric clinics. The authors defined EFD as…

The links between single mothers' employment patterns and change over time in the well-being of the mothers' adolescent children were investigated using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Adolescents were ages 14 to 16 at baseline, and they and their mothers were followed for 2 years. Relative to being continuously employed in a good job,…

This article assesses the differences in educational deficiencies between a statewide sample of delinquent students and a matched sample of nondelinquent students. Employing a research design that controls for a series of relevant individual and school variables, the study's findings document that delinquent students are characterized by a series…

This article considers the processes within policy and legislation through which the point about inclusion continues to be missed in the search for the calculable and the certain, which Derrida (1990) refers to as "a madness" and this article explores how this has played out in the Scottish context in which there is currently an attempt…

As public employees, educators should expect to be held accountable for their use of public funds. Nonetheless, the various state governments and now the U.S. Department of Education have implemented high-stakes achievement testing as the nearly singular approach to accountability. While these accountability efforts vary in a number of ways,…

This study examines the demographic, academic, social, and behavioral differences between GED (General Educational Development) Tests candidates who were and were not retained in grade. Differences between candidates who were and were not retained in grade are examined with regard to factors such as demographics, delinquent behaviors, reasons for…

Most research examining the efficacy of early grade retention has been limited to outcomes during elementary school. A notable gap in the retention literature is the dearth of studies examining outcomes during late adolescence. The results of this prospective longitudinal study include comparisons among four unique samples: (1) early grade…

Most of the studies of the return on investment in early childhood education have focused on the big payoffs in reduced public and societal costs associated with child welfare, public assistance, crime and incarceration, and benefits related to increased education and earnings. Several studies focus specifically on costs and benefits within the…

This booklet examines ways to promote student success in a California standards-based system. It reviews the history of social promotion and retention in the United States and suggests why it is time to move beyond the "either/or" mindset. The booklet suggests that neither social promotion nor retention solves the basic problem of…