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).

What are the consequences of grade retention?

Retention also has a direct cost to the students themselves: Many are delayed a year from entering the workforce because they have to spend another year in school. That can reduce their short- and long-run earnings. Plus, requiring students to take an extra year to graduate may cause more of them to drop out.

What are the disadvantages of retaining students?

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.

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).

Is it good to hold kids back grade retention?

Retention studies

Grade retention is one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout. In adolescence, retained students are more likely to experience problems such as poor interactions with peers, disliking school, behavior problems, and lower self-esteem.

Effects of Grade Retention on Students

Is student retention good or bad?

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?

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.

Why students should not be retained?

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. Students who are held back tend to get into trouble, dislike school, and feel badly about themselves more often than children who go on to the next grade.

What are the social effects of grade retention?

Effect of retention on social acceptance

The results have been inconsistent. For example, when kindergarten teachers were asked to rate classroom behavior and peer acceptance, they rated retained students as being less well liked by classmates than low-achieving promoted students (Pianta et al., 1997).

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.

What is the downside of retention?

The downsides to high employee retention are disengaged employees who remain in their roles, hurt productivity, create toxic work environments, and drive good employees away. High retention can also lead to difficulty implementing change, less innovation, and a lack of diversity and inclusion.

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.

What are some pros of grade retention?

For kids who are developmentally immature (either physically or emotionally), repeating a grade may reduce the stress of trying to “keep up.” For kids who are physically large for their age, repeating a grade can make them stand out more.

What do learning and retention lead to?

Learning retention is the process of retaining new knowledge in long-term memory and recalling it when needed. Effective learning retention means learners can apply the knowledge in real-life situations and store it long-term.

Why is teacher retention so bad?

It sprouts from a variety of factors including inadequate preparation, a lack of mentoring or effective mentoring, pressures of test-based accountability, low salaries, and poor teaching conditions.

Why is low teacher retention bad?

Most substitutes don't teach regularly and may be less equipped to create engaging lesson plans. When teachers leave midyear, substitutes may struggle to successfully take over. Poor teacher retention has been shown to negatively impact students' educational achievement, according to the Learning Policy Institute.

What are the benefits of student retention?

What did no child left behind do?

It changed the federal government's role in kindergarten through grade twelve education by requiring schools to demonstrate their success in terms of the academic achievement of every student.

What is student retention and why does it matter?

Put simply, schools measure the student retention rate as the number of students who re-enroll from one year to the next. The practice of student retention encompasses all the things the school does to influence this rate, working to prevent students from leaving school before completing their degree.

Do parents have a say in grade retention?

According to this regulation, “a school can retain or promote a student without parent or guardian approval.” It also says the district's school board must provide an appeal process for parents who disagree with the school's promotion or retention decision for their student.

Is it OK to repeat a grade?

Repeating a grade can damage students' confidence and subject them to bullying. Sometimes it can help academically, but those gains quickly fade. Some studies show that holding elementary students back can work, but only if they get key supports, such as tutoring, summer programs, or high-quality teachers.

Can you move up a grade after being held back?

It can happen and occasionally does. Sometimes a student is retained for one reason or another and then gets up to speed and they are at the level of the next grade level. So they will bump the student back up a grade if the school and parents agree upon it.

How do you help students who struggle with retention?

What happens if you get held back 3 times?

States only pay for public school until 21, so if a student is held back more than twice, they won't be allowed to graduate in a traditional program.

What causes a child to repeat a grade?

Repeating a grade in school can be a difficult and stressful experience for children and their families. There are a variety of reasons why a child might repeat a grade, including academic struggles, emotional or behavioral issues, and learning disabilities.