Around the world, 250 million children cannot read, write, or perform basic mathematics. They represent almost 40% of all primary school-aged children. This situation has come to be called the "global learning crisis" and it is one of the most critical challenges facing the world today. Work to address this situation depends on how it is…

The general problem addressed by this study was that students who have been retained in the elementary grades were more likely to drop out of high school than their low achieving but socially promoted peers. The specific problem addressed in this study was that it is unclear what factors during students' retained years contribute to their…

Grade repetition is one of the bottlenecks to Uganda's vision of producing skilled human capital to transform the nation's status from peasant to middle class. This study explored how education stakeholders perceived the implication of students' grade repetition at a secondary school level. I employed a qualitative approach with an embedded…

This executive position paper (EPP) studies the influence of one Maryland public school system's implementation of a revised grading, promotion, and retention policy and the accompanying professional development to decrease the number of students proposed for retention in the same elementary grade following decades of a policy lacking procedures…

This study tested whether grade retention at the transition into secondary school had a significant impact on adolescent psychosocial adjustment. A quasi-experimental design was used in which propensity score matching was implemented. Univariate ANCOVAs were subsequently run on a subsample of 181 students enrolled in one typical secondary school…

This paper evaluates the impact of extension of the school day in the context of Brazil's "Mais Educação" Extended School Day Program. Using school level longitudinal data, we find that the program reduces the dropout rates of students in all grade levels, raises the enrollment of students in grades 6-9, but reduces the enrollment of…

This annual report provides information for the 2021-22 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and mathematics…

The Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act is the signature literacy statute in Colorado. The READ Act prioritizes early literacy by ensuring all students achieve early-grade reading proficiency for later academic success. In 2019, the Colorado General Assembly passed revisions to the READ Act in S.B. 19-199, which were signed into law…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children in Texas and across the United States. The theme of this issue is "Institutional Grit." Articles include: (1) The Link between…

The percentage of students with lower academic achievement than their peers due to their socio-economical disadvantages is globally accepted as an indicator of inequality. Some students, despite their disadvantages, are as successful as their advantaged peers. The family and individual characteristics and academic experiences of these students,…

This Information Capsule reviews the research conducted on elementary level grade retention. Research findings on the effect of retention on elementary students' outcomes are inconsistent. One widely accepted conclusion is that when retention occurs, it should be accompanied by additional interventions designed to increase students' academic…

Purpose: This longitudinal study aims to understand the circumstances of and changes in student enrollment in Honduras by comparing geographically and socioeconomically different areas and students' year of school entrance. Design/methodology/approach: The sample was made up of 4,043 students from seven primary schools in a regional city and the…

Each year, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) offers a summer education program designed to assist students with a variety of instructional needs. In 2021, centrally coordinated summer school programs included accelerated instruction for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and STAAR End-of-Course (EOC) re-testers;…

School districts in the United States are responding to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in significantly different ways. The authors of this report fielded the third American School District Panel (ASDP) survey in June 2021 to discover what changes districts are making to their academic and nonacademic offerings for the upcoming…

The Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program longitudinal study (2009-2020) reviews the changing circumstances and outcomes of participation in Pre-K services in Arkansas. The "core comparison" of this study is between ABC participants and students who had no known Pre-K participation but have similar household income levels. The results…