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-,…

The assessment of nonword repetition in children goes back at least to 1974, when the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Auditory Skills Battery was published, including a subtest (Sound Mimicry) assessing nonword repetition (Goldman, Fristoe, & Woodcock, 1974). Nevertheless, it was not until 20 years later, when Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) reported a…

The first report of a connection between vocabulary learning and phonological short-term memory was published in 1988 (Baddeley, Papagno, & Vallar, 1988). At that time, both Susan Gathercole and I were involved in longitudinal studies, investigating the relation between nonword repetition and language learning. We both found a connection. Now,…

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…

The authors examined the developmental pathways between high school graduates and dropouts. The authors obtained official school data via a random sample of 119 students enrolled across 4 cohorts. The authors postulated 2 research questions: (a) Do differences exist in the developmental pathways of high school graduates in comparison with high…

This study evaluates a large urban district's standards-based promotion policy decisions against a model-driven classification. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to explore factors related to grade retention at both the student and school level. Statistical results indicate that using students' next year achievement test scores as…

This study of grade-level advancement/retention policies and procedures in 10 school districts shows how retention policy and procedure are disconnected from retention research. Administrators and teachers experience ethical dilemmas when district policy and prescribed practice collide with realities that underlie student failure. However, acts of…

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2011 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Boston, Massachusetts conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Are Students Dropping Out or Dragging Out the College Experience? The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Academic Background (Leslie S. Stratton…

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…

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…

Research seems to indicate that grade retention of students may benefit students academically. However, other studies suggest that grade retention does not improve the achievement of problem students, does not ensure significant gains in achievement, affects boys twice as often as girls, and occurs frequently for children with learning, behavior…

The history of the strategy of grade retention for low achieving students is briefly reviewed and conflicts concerning its efficacy are summarized. Current research aimed at identifying specific criteria (including some found to be correlates of learning disabilities) which aid educators in making retention decisions is described. (Author/DB)