In Lao People's Democratic Republic, two streams exist in pre-primary education, the standard three-year and a one-year preparatory class called 'Grade Zero system'. This research aims to investigate the introduction of the Grade 0 system, one-year pre-primary class, and its impact on ethnic minority children in rural villages of Lao PDR. The…

This annual report provides information for the 2020-21 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…

This study examined why students with disabilities have a strong presence in the juvenile justice system and measures to prevent or reduce the school-to-prison pipeline. The study utilized a Teacher Questionnaire on Delinquency to compare middle and high school teachers perceptions' of risk factors of delinquency for students with disabilities.…

Background: Within the emergence of inclusive education in Indonesia, transitions take on various forms impacting the educational and social lives of students. This paper reports the experiences of primary school students with intellectual disabilities during transitions in various contexts. Methods: An initial period of research used…

Literacy has become a major component of teaching and learning. Students must be taught early literacy skills in preschool and kindergarten to develop a foundation for literacy in later grades. Many states have adopted a literacy promotion assessment. This assessment requires third-grade students to take and pass a literacy-based promotion…

This study investigated the costs of different summer reading programs and compared costs to the benefits of summer school as a way to avoid retaining students not reading proficiently at the end of third grade. Per pupil costs ranged from US$1,665 to US$2,194. The average cost was US$1,887 (range: US$266-US$5,552) with 82% of overall expenses…

New evidence presented in this paper shows that existing accounts of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in developing countries underestimate both progress and inequality because they do not take into account the large proportion of 15-16-year olds who are ineligible for the PISA sampling frame, primarily due to dropout or…

Despite the fact that grade retention is now seen as controversial in many quarters, it remains common practice in numerous countries. Previous research on the effects of grade retention on student development has, however, generated ambiguous results, particularly in terms of motivational outcomes. This ambiguity has been attributed in part to a…

This study leverages naturally occurring lotteries for oversubscribed Boston Public Schools prekindergarten program sites between 2007 and 2011, for 3,182 children (M = 4.5 years old) to estimate the impacts of winning a first choice lottery and enrolling in Boston prekindergarten versus losing a first choice lottery and not enrolling on…

This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 2010-2011 to better understand the rates of grade retention during elementary school and the factors associated with this grade retention. Using matched student-teacher and student-principal data, I examine the student-, teacher-, and school-level factors associated with a student's…

Background: While, an extensive literature reveals the many risk factors associated with truancy, less is known about the way truancy develops, intensifies and persists. In recent years, authors have argued that the development of truancy should not be understood as an individual phenomenon, but as a process of complex interactions between the…

This research brief summarizes the major findings from a multi-year research study of the long-term impacts of student grade retention. The study examined New York City students in grades 3 through 8 subject an assessment-based promotion policy in academic years 2003-2004 through 2011-2012, following them through the 2015-2016 school year. This…

We present evidence of a positive relationship between school starting age and children's cognitive development from age 6 to 18 using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and large-scale population-level birth and school data from the state of Florida. We estimate effects of being old for grade (being born in September versus August) that are…

The provision of "alternative" education is increasingly common in the countries of the world, but highly varied in its forms and coverage. In its commitment to provide education for all to age 18, Chile recently expanded its system of schools for teenage dropouts and has funded research on how best to educate these youth. This article,…

Because of the regulations concerning school entry in most school systems, a child's date of birth may significantly affect his or her age at entry into school, and thus their first experience of schooling. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this paper provides a comparative analysis of the impact of a…