Explores the legal ramifications of student retention, citing several court cases from the last several years. Concludes that courts have generally steered away from academic issues except where a school has acted in an arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory manner. (Author/WD)

Argues that the attempt to develop schools in which students do not fail has had the unintended side effect of decreasing learning progress and increasing tolerance for this lack of progress. Asserts that students who interfere with the learning of other students should not be kept in the schools. (Author/IRT)

This monograph looks at patterns and prevalence of initial school enrolment, late entry, attainment promotion, and repetition in urban South Africa. The paper pays special attention to the particular gender nature of the patterns of school participation. The study analyses data generated in the genuine representative cohort study, Birth-to-Twenty…

The chronic academic underperformance and student failure of most American urban high schools are actually created by the antiquated way that schools evaluate student academic performance and award (or deny) course credits. When the school leaders in a small inner-city high school in Chicago began to question the "received wisdom" of…

Presents arguments for individualized instruction in elementary schools. (PF)

Those who decide to keep a child in an elementary grade for an additional year do so despite very persuasive research evidence that negative effects consistently outweigh positive outcomes. Retention suggests the student is solely responsible and is therefore a punishment rather than a solution. (MT)

This cut score modeling study investigated whether changing the cut scores of language arts performance assessments (PAs) would differentially affect subgroups of students. Based on a data set of 227,817 students, hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that no sub-groups of students were found to have a higher or lower possibility of…

This book focuses on how elementary school teachers and administrators can make sensible, well-reasoned, and defensible retention and promotion decisions. The book contains a reproducible retention/promotion checklist made up of questions selected on the basis of factors that have an impact on school success or failure. Checklist summary and…

This study examined the long-term effect of retention/promotion decisions on the academic achievement of primary grade students. First, second, and third grade retainees were matched on several variables with same-age students who were not retained. Results indicated that retained students significantly improve their relative class standing by the…

A review of the literature in 1965 revealed considerable research into the respective merits of policies of (1) automatic promotion for all pupils, and (2) rigid retention-in-grade for those whose achievement was judged deficient. Although neither extreme was a panacea, promotion appeared to have fewer disadvantages than retention. Pupils who…

Examines current research to decide whether students who are doing poor academically or who have a social or emotional problem, will benefit from grade retention rather than promotion to the next grade. (DEP)

The nonpromoted group of pupils in this study continued to increase their self-concept scores significantly while scores of the borderline and promoted groups dropped slightly but significantly. (Author/IRT)

Examines the theoretical bases and historical evolution of two promotional policies--merit and social promotion. Offers suggestions for school districts planning to implement stronger promotional standards. (JOW)

Colleges should look at themselves to discover why enrollments are declining. (MM)