Assessed impact of gender, ethnicity/home language, holding out, retention, and social promotion on first-grade achievement. Found that Latino students were more likely to be promoted to first grade, despite concerns about their performance, than were Anglo students. Interventions, such as retention, yielded no positive effects. (RJM)

Reveals significant correlation between older Maltese students and high test scores on their examinations to enter junior high. Older students are those born in the early months of the year. Study found little difference in scores between genders, although girls were more likely to pass the examination than boys. (MJP)

Public school students, parents, and teachers are protesting "high stakes" standardized tests that bar many deserving students from promotion or graduation. A typical high stakes test is a state-mandated 10th-grade test that students must pass to graduate high school. They are called high stakes because a student's entire high school career rides…

This publication provides a review of the research on issues relating to the gap in achievement between high- and low-performing students, focussing specifically on the topics of retention in grade, remediation of students who are underachieving, and accelerated instruction. Following the executive summary and introductory material, three sections…

In the Cleveland (Ohio) Public Schools, the percent of students who are retained in grade, or who are not promoted, is high. At the high school level, retention rates ranged from 9 percent to 47 percent in the 1988-89 school year. School characteristics that correlate with the rate of retention are studied in an attempt to understand some of the…

Using information gathered through a study funded by the New Zealand Minister of Education, this document examines the history and implementation of the New Zealand government's 1:20 teacher-pupil ratio policy first set in motion in 1985, pupil progress associated with the policy, and related literature about class size. The following papers, each…

The validity of grades in higher education as a measure of what a student has actually learned has been a concern to both the public and academicians for over three decades. This was one of several issues discussed in a report by the National Institute of Education Study Group on Conditions of Excellence in American Higher Education. Furthermore,…

This monograph reviews pertinent research and issues concerning grade retention in an effort to understand the implications for retention and promotion policies, especially in elementary schools. The monograph discusses 11 topics, including: (1) the historical context of retention and promotion; (2) the link between grade retention and dropouts;…

Project Advancement Based on Competency (ABC) was a 5-year study funded jointly by the Alberta Department of Education and the Calgary Board of Education for the sum of $999,950. The study extended from 1982 to 1987, exploring alternatives to the Carnegie Unit in three senior high schools in Calgary. The Unit was established in 1907 to regulate…

The effects of kindergarten-grade 1 transitional classrooms in Eugene (Oregon) compared with retention or promotion of students to grade 1 were studied in an evaluation of two transitional classrooms. Focus was on determining the effects of retention, transition, and promotion on student achievement and social skills. Students entering a…

The Secondary Student Progress Plan aims to provide uniform educational expectations for successful course completion and progress toward graduation beginning with grade 7 in school year 1984-85. Arranged in outline form, the plan shows the course of study for grades 7-12, guidelines for evaluating and reporting student progress, promotion…

Inappropriate grade placement of a migrant child frequently prevents the child from graduating. Statistics show that very few migrants graduate at age 20, and almost none have graduated at an age older than 20. Therefore, students who are placed two or more years below their grade level are virtually doomed to drop out of school. Project Upgrade…

In evaluating its first year of the Student Progress Plan (SPP), the District of Columbia Public Schools found that more students were promoted under SPP than would have been promoted under the traditional policy. Implemented in grades 1-3 in 125 schools as part of the school district's competency-based curriculum, SPP is a skills mastery plan in…

The education dollar is poorly spent when students drop out of school, and even more poorly spent when students repeat grades. A review of the research on student promotion and grade repetition discloses two basic philosophies underpinning practices in this area. Those arguing for grade repetition assume that academic factors determine success and…

This paper relates frequency of interstate migration and the likelihood of a child's being enrolled in school at the modal grade for age, controlling for socioeconomic status of the family. The 1970 Census of Population obtained information on school enrollment and current grade, state of birth, residence in 1965, and residence in 1970. A measure…