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Research Profile: Grade Level Retention

blntmaker

on April 20, 2007

The National Association of School Psychologists polled thoudands of sixth graders over the course of two decades. Each time, the three greatests fears of a sixth grader were:
1) The death of a parent.
2) Fear of going blind.
3) Being held back a year in school.
In the United States, Grade level retention is a often consider a policy or procedure of having a student repeat one grade level of instruction. This means, a student has, by adolescent terms, "flunked" that grade level entirely, or is being "held back" an academic year. Grade retention is usually practiced during the elementary and middle school years and is rarely implemented past the ninth grade.

Proponents of grade retention submit that this practices allows a student to sharpen their ability to be more organized, strengthen literacy, and promote stronger academic and management skills, which may have been remiss in a pupil's previous academic year. However, research support and many opponents of grade retention identify quick fixes from grade retention, which are far and few between success. In fact, negative social setbacks such as, higher risk of drop-out rates and early development of anti-social behavior are the greater concerns of anti-retention activists.

Social promotion (The practice of promoting a student of like age and size to the next grade) is the direct opposite of grade retention. Though this practice grants few psychological and social rewards, additional research tells us it sends a negative message to the students who have or have not passed that grade level. Specifically, telling the "promoted" student he cannot do the work while pressuring the forthcoming teacher to deal with an academically ill-prepared student while instructing those who are academically prepared.

Along with many who support more neutral measures for an official and effective policy, advocates for both grade retention and social promotion continue to debate this issue to this day.