Retention in School

Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence, Apr 06, 2001

A significant number of high school freshmen in the United States have repeated at least one grade. In most cases, teachers recommend retention for one of three reasons: developmental immaturity that has resulted in learning difficulties; emotional immaturity that has resulted in severely disruptive behavior; or failure to pass standardized proficiency or achievement tests at the end of specific years.

Some teachers believe that retaining a student is the best thing parents and teachers can do for the child. Many of these teachers are in early elementary education where maturity factors are of primary concern. Students begin school at such an early age, many teachers argue, that it is unrealistic to expect them all to have the emotional maturity to succeed in structured learning regimens. Marie Ubelhart, who has taught kindergarten and early elementary school in New Jersey, expressed these sentiments in a debate published in the journal NEA Today. Ubelhart, who has recommended retention for many students, says, "Youngsters who should be retained but aren't usually move through each grade slowly, losing more academic ground each year. Falling so far behind makes them feel stupid, and they develop a dislike for themselves." She says that in her own experience she has seen that holding students back, especially at the early stages of education, is beneficial. Ubelhart cites the case of one of her students who repeated a grade, and went on to win an academic award as a senior in high school.

Anecdotal evidence aside, psychological studies of retention have proved otherwise. In most of the research conducted on the outcomes of retention, it has been concluded that retention, even at the elementary level, does not result in improved academic achievement among low-achieving students. Short-term outcomes (the period of time immediately following the retention) may be temporary improvement in academic achievement, but that decreases over time. Researchers have found remedial instruction or other types of individualized intervention more likely to result in improved academic achievement. In addition, retention is controversial because male and minority students are much more likely to be retained.

In the early 1990s, a landmark study was completed that examined the practice of grade retention over the course of 60 years. It concluded that students who repeat a grade do no better than similar students who are passed on to the next grade. Other researchers have found that students who are retained are 30% more likely to drop out of school. One reason often cited for the increase in drop-out rate is that repeating a grade does not automatically improve the student's chances of learning; he or she is usually placed into a classroom no different from the one in which they were in the year before. The implication underlying the retention process is that the problem lies with the student, not with the curriculum or method of instruction.

In fact, undiagnosed learning problems have been shown by researchers to be a factor in a significant number of retentions. In the early 1990s, researchers collected data on a population of elementary students who were evaluated for learning problems. Two-thirds were determined to have a learning disability (LD). Of those so diagnosed, over 70% had been retained at least once, with minority students the most likely to be retained before being evaluated for learning disability.

Another reason educators have begun to reconsider the values of retention is the social stigma attached to being held back, which can be devastating to students. In 1990, Ladies Home Journal reported the results of a study that showed that among six- to nine-year-olds "the prospect of repeating was more stressful than wetting their pants in class or being caught stealing." The only things these children reported as being more stressful than repeating a grade was going blind or losing a parent. The students even reported that losing a sibling would be less stressful than being held back.

An alternative to retention is delaying a child's entry into kindergarten in order to give her an extra year of preschool. More common in suburban school districts, the idea is to allow children, especially those who would be young among their peers in kindergarten (birthdays falling near the cutoff date for school entry), to gain maturity and a greater likelihood of success in kindergarten. The practice is believed to reduce the need for retention in the future. A study published in 1995 in the journal Remedial and Special Education examined retention and the use of special education services for students in a school district that had practiced delayed entry into kindergarten (just over 8% of all students). The researchers found that students who delayed school entry were more likely to be boys, and were placed in special education programs more often, but that they were not any more likely to be retained than their peers, who entered school the year they were qualified chronologically to do so.