Social educational emotional development

Grade Retention is the practice of requiring low-performing students to repeat the same grade in order to master what has not been learned. Often, educators recommend grade retention because of a child’s severe academic underachievement. It is also sometimes proposed when a child has been absent from school for a prolonged period because of illness.

Retention is a complex and emotionally laden issue as it is the most common and immediate consequence for students who have not mastered grade level material. Many students do not see retention as a positive event designed to help them learn better nor do schools portray retention as a positive event. Parents, educators, and students view retention as a punishment and a stigma. Also, educators consistently underplay the extent of conflict with parents over the decision to retain and underestimate the degree of parents’ active resistance or passive but unhappy compliance. Research shows that first graders are retained more often. From second through sixth grade, retention rate decreases. They increase again in the seventh grade and at the high school level.

Is grade retention really beneficial? Educators think so but research and expert opinion does not concur.

Given the increasing popularity, one seems to think grade retention is a pedagogical technique. No doubt, educators see grade retention as beneficial even when it is portrayed as a punishment. Literature review suggests that educators view the following benefits for the student: assumes leadership, becomes more comfortable with the school routine, being more cooperative, greater self-confidence, more academic success, greater involvement in the social group within the school, and more positive attitude towards school. Many view retention as a necessary measure to ensure that students are well prepared with basic knowledge and skills for use in future. Retention is seen as appropriate in lower grades – particularly the younger children in class and those who are less "mature" emotionally. An ever- increasing number of kindergarten teachers recommend retention based on their beliefs about the child’s maturational level. Most of these teachers believe that, as the child repeats the grade, they become more prepared to learn in school according to an evolutionary, physiological unfolding of abilities. Another cited reason for retention is fear of criticism from teachers in the next grade for promoting a student who is not well prepared. Teachers also report that groups of retained students show a "bounce" in their academic performance. But what does research and expert opinion say about grade retention? A vast majority of studies conducted over the last century documents the ineffectiveness and failure of grade retention as an intervention or solution for students who are already struggling to learn in school. They point to the fact that these students remain behind academically in the long-term. And in most instances, retention has nothing to address the problems of students who find it difficult to learn. Children do not improve academically in a straight linear progression from year to year. They learn in spurts. A child might achieve six months academic growth one year and significantly more the next. Then, why penalize a child for one poor year when that child might progress satisfactorily in later grades? Also, especially those children with Special Needs, may never learn certain concepts or skills like extracting a square root without a calculator but live without that skill – maybe even make more money than an educator does!

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