Does retention help struggling learners?

Can grade retention be beneficial for students? Answer: Yes. Several recent studies have found that retention in elementary school can be beneficial for students in improving middle school outcomes when the students most likely to benefit are identified and retention is paired with appropriate instructional supports.

Does retention help struggling students?

For later grades, the research is fairly clear. Multiple studies have found that holding back middle schoolers increases their odds of dropping out of high school. “The evidence on retaining students in the later grades — I think that's unambiguously negative,” said Winters.

What are the benefits of student retention?

Retention is a fundamental component of an institution's ability to carry out its mission. Low retention creates a financial loss but also appears as a symbolic failure for an institution. It is also more cost-effective to retain the students you currently have rather than recruiting for new ones.

What are the benefits of grade retention?

Retaining students based on reading proficiency can produce large improvements in academic performance when compared to grade-level peers. Retention is not an academic death sentence. In fact, it can lead to better preparation when entering high school.

Should students who fail their classes be retained?

The weight of the evidence of literally hundreds of studies shows that retaining children does not produce higher achievement. Rather than flunking students, schools should provide high quality instruction for children who find learning difficult.

Early Signs of a Learning Disability or Learning Disorder

What are cons of retention?

Retention does not reduce the range of academic achievement in any particular classroom and, in fact, usually creates even greater differences among classmates. Research on grade retention has shown that this particular practice results in a negative impact on a child's social and emotional development.

Why is retention bad for students?

Most children do not “catch up” when held back. Although some retained students do better at first, these children often fall behind again in later grades. Retention is one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout; holding a child back twice makes dropping out of school 90% certain.

Does retention repeating a grade help struggling learners?

A child who's just been absent often is already at higher risk for dropping out of school. Repeating a grade increases the risk. Kids who are much younger than grade-level peers and who have a history of struggling academically can benefit from repeating a grade. It can be a better fit emotionally and age-wise.

Should struggling students repeat a grade?

Ideally, no. Repeating a grade―also known as "grade retention" ―has not been shown to help children learn. Children won't outgrow learning and attention issues by repeating a grade. In fact, repeating a grade may contribute to long-term issues with low self-esteem, as well as emotional or social difficulties.

How does retention affect learning?

Learning retention is a person's ability to transfer new information into their long-term memory so that it is easy for them to recall and put that knowledge to use in the future. In simpler words, learning retention is all about making new knowledge stick for a long time.

Why do kids not repeat their grades anymore?

Perhaps even more concerning, holding a student back tends to affect a child's social and emotional development. In Healthy Children, Laura McGuinn, a professor of pediatrics, notes that kids think repeating a grade is stressful, especially if they're one of the older or bigger kids in the class.

How do you ensure student retention?

By providing support services, fostering a sense of belonging, improving the quality of education, and communicating with students, institutions can improve student retention and create a positive educational experience for students.

How do you build student retention?

What are the disadvantages of holding a child back from kindergarten?

A large body of research has indicated that holding a child back in school is associated with poorer academic outcomes and little social-emotional benefit. While some studies have found short-term social and academic benefits of grade retention, many of these effects fade after a few years.

Does holding a child back in school help?

Recent research shows that, for the most part, holding kids back a grade isn't the best practice. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) reports that some kids do better in school the first year or two after being held back. But it also says that this effect doesn't last.

How many kids get held back a year?

Nearly 450,000 first through eighth graders are retained each year.

Is grade retention ineffective?

Research has found that for most students, grade retention had a negative effect on all areas of achievement (e.g., reading, math, and language) and social and emotional adjustment (e.g., peer relationships, self-esteem, problem behaviors, and attendance).

What are the cons of retention in school?

Holding students back lowers their self-esteem and makes them feel inferior, in effect perpetuating their failure. Read more about the Matthew Effect. Retention impairs peer relationships, cutting off friendships made through the year and subjecting grade-repeating students to ridicule and bullying.

Why is low teacher retention bad?

Poor teacher retention has been shown to negatively impact students' educational achievement, according to the Learning Policy Institute.

Why is teacher retention so bad?

This data also suggests that spiking stress levels, student behavior challenges, and a harsh political spotlight have all taken their toll on many American teachers. “Education had changed so dramatically since COVID.

Should you hold your child back in first grade?

Having a child repeat kindergarten or first grade is generally fine, but by second grade it really affects self esteem. If she is consistently functioning at a C level, there are much more effective ways to help her to blossom academically.

What are the long term effects of grade retention?

Critics contend that retention detaches students from their peers and subjects them to social stigmatization and stress, which might negatively affect self-confidence, motivation, and interpersonal relationships (Anderson et al., 2005; Goos et al., 2021).

Who has been held back the most in school?

Black, Latino, and Native students and English learners are more likely to repeat a grade than their Asian or White peers ^7,8 . Black and Latino students who are held back are more likely to be disciplined ⁶ and less likely to graduate ^9,10 and continue their education past high school ¹¹ .

What enhances retention of learning?

By implementing strategies such as pre-assessment, active learning, spaced repetition, real-world application, continuous reinforcement, gamification, learning support, knowledge checks, and follow-up opportunities, organisations can enhance retention and ensure that learning translates into improved job performance.

What factors influence student retention?