Running head: Grade Retention 1

Current Issues Paper:

Grade Retention

Presented to Jennifer Saxton

Arkansas Tech University
Capstone Project PS 4003

Amy LaRue
T0000032353
April 20, 2017
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As a professional studies student with a degree concentration in early childhood

education, a great way to hone in my skills and knowledge of the education world is to look at

different aspects of education. There are almost innumerable facets of the world of education.

As a teachers aide, I work with students who are below grade level in their course work. For

instance, some of the sixth-grade students I work with read on a third grade level and some

cannot do simple multiplication. I have often wondered how they made it this far in school with

such low ability. In my quest to understand this conundrum, I decided to look into some research

that has been conducted on grade retention to better understand why these students have

progressed and if there was any research to back-up the notion of grade progression for a student

who is clearly so far below the norm.

The world of education is changing all the time; from the way we introduce material and

teach our students to the structure of the school day. Standards change from year to year as does

the material and depth of instruction. One aspect of education that seems to be occurring less

and less is grade retention or as the layman may refer to it, failing a grade or holding back a

student in a particular grade level. There are several aspects to consider when a school decides to

retain a child in a grade for another year, but one of the most concerning aspects of retention is

the outcome on the childs overall education experience.

Grade retention is the practice of requiring a student who has been in a given grade level

for a full school year to remain at the level for a subsequent school year (Jimerson, 2001). There

are differing views on the subject of grade retention and research shows both negative and

positive outcomes. In order to get started on this topic, I conducted an interview with Suzanne

Louks, a middle school principal who was a teacher for fifteen years before taking the principal

position. In her time as a classroom teacher, she stated that she never advocated to retain any of
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her students. However, last year as her second year as middle school principal, she decided to

retain her first child. The child was a male, who after being placed in an alternative learning

environment, still had failing grades. She told me, without the mention of the childs name, that

said child had Fs in every class. Not just any kind of F but his percentage grade averaged

twenty for all of his core classes. While the child was capable of better grades, he simply would

not put forth any effort or do any of the work. After conferences with his parents and other

administrators as well as the childs ALE teacher, it was decided that this child be retained at the

current grade level for one more year.

Louks stated that it was a difficult decision to make, but that it was one that needed to be

made in the interest of the child. She also stated that the retention seemed to be a good idea for

the student in question because he was progressing nicely this year. While this is a scenario that

has had a positive outcome in the short term, there could also be negative consequences in the

long term.

Studies show that students who are retained could suffer consequences in their

educational careers. One particular outcome is that students who are retained have reduced odds

of completing high school; up to a sixty percent higher probability of dropping out before

graduation at the senior level (Andrew, 2014). While this might seem startling, there is a counter

study that indicates students who are retained in primary school have a greater ability to recover

from the initial social scarring associated with grade retention and their graduation rates tend to

be higher than those students who are retained in upper elementary.

It is interesting to note that the majority of students who are retained are male

(Klapproth & Schaltz). This is a national trend as indicated in the study done by Klapproth and

Schaltz. Additionally, this study parallels the study done by Andrew in that students who are
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retained lack in academic performance in comparison to those who were promoted. The overall

consensus is that grade retention is not as beneficial as it is harmful. While students may

perform better in the grade they are repeating, after promotion to the next level, the students

performance is still lackluster and the lasting effects of the retention could hinder the student

from graduating high school.

In my personal experience, I have noticed a trend in the students I see regularly as a

teachers aide; the majority are female. While my personal frame of refence is small, I have

done this job for almost two years and of the twenty children I have worked with, only three

have been male. There could be bias in this observation, though. There is a higher girl to boy

ratio in my school district. Additonally, all the fifth and sixth grade teachers are female, which

could be contributing to the bias of noticing the females lack of performance as opposed to the

males lack of grade level performance.

While grade retention may seem like the only viable solution for a student who is not on

grade level academically, other options exist for the student to succeed. In the interview I

conducted with Principle Louks she noted several proactive strategies that are beneficial to

students who are struggling to meet grade level standards. She noted that there are provisions

under the No Child Left behind Act that allow for parents to intervene and set up a plan with

educators that allow for special provisions to the students school work. Special provisions

include extended time on regular exams and standardized tests as well as differentiated material

learning. These are all methods that should be tried early in the school year and before

standardized testing to ensure that the only option for the child to succeed at the current grade is

to be retained.
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In conclusion, the research that was conducted in conjunction with the interview

performed on Principal Louks, outcomes depend primarily on the individual students resiliency.

If the student is able to overcome the possible scarring inflicted by being retained, the student

has great potential for success. On the other hand, if a student feels socially isolated and

educationally inferior due to grade retention, lasting effects could hinder the student in his

educational journey and said student could possibly quit school before their senior year. Further

research could make the conclusion clearer, but would require a much broader scope and analysis

of many more studies.

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References:

Andrew, M. (2014). The Scarring Effects of Primary-Grade Retention?: A Study of

Cumulative Advantage in the Educational Career. Social Forces 93(2), 653-

685. Oxford University Press. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from Project MUSE

database.

Klapproth, F., & Schaltz, P. (2015). Who is retained in school, and when? survival

analysis of predictors of grade retention in luxembourgish secondary school.

European Journal of Psychology of Education, 30(1), 119-136. Retrieved April

17, 2017 from doi:http://libcatalog.atu.edu:2097/10.1007/s10212-014-0232-7

Jimerson, S. R. (2001). Meta-analysis of Grade Retention Research: Implications for

Practice in the 21st Century. School Psychology Review, 30(3), 420. Retrieved

April 18, 2017 from http://libcatalog.atu.edu:2063/ehost/detail/detail?

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