Report: Grade repetition helps young students master skills

March 21, 2011 | Corey G. Johnson, California Watch

woodley wonderworks/Flickr

Forcing a child to repeat a grade level when they fail to master academic material is one of the most contentious and controversial decisions a school can make.

But it can be the best decision for a struggling student's future, according to a recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Researchers examined the performance of students who were retained in the first and second grades at the Los Angeles Unified School District. The report, "Early Grade Retention and Student Success: Evidence from Los Angeles," found about 7.5 percent of all LAUSD students were retained before reaching third grade. Researchers also learned that:

About 66 percent of the students who repeated second grade improved their command of English and knowledge of mathematics.
Students retained in the first grade demonstrated significant improvements in reading skills a year later.
Relatively younger students and boys are much more likely to be held back.
Young students with multiple risk factors, such as being Latino or African American, or from an low-income family, faced up to a one-in-nine chance of having to repeat a grade level. Students with early reading skills were less likely to be blocked from going to the next grade level.

School principals had mixed views on whether grade retention worked, researchers found. The researchers concluded that grade retention was a severe step but one that shouldn't be disregarded as schools grapple with fewer resources.

In times of budget cuts, the intervention options available to a district or school may be severely constrained. Intervention costs fall more heavily on the district, which makes choices about where and how to use its funds to support at-risk students. But if a district or school cannot or does not provide adequate interventions to prevent retention, retention costs will fall largely on the state.

The review could renew calls for an statewide database to track academic performance.

California doesn't collect information on how frequently grade retention happens or whether the repetition leads to improved academic performance, the report stated.