Grade Retention - The Statistics

In doing research on grade retention (i.e., keeping students back a grade), I came across some startling statistics:

• Research between 1911 - 1999 and beyond concluded that there is no evidence for retaining kids [Holmes, 1989; Jimerson, 2001 in Anderson, G., Whipple, A., & Jimerson, S. (2002)].
• In fact, studies showed negative effects on children [Jimerson, 2001 in Anderson, G., Whipple, A., & Jimerson, S. (2002)].
• Retention was found to be one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout, with retained students 2 to 11 times more likely to drop out of high school than promoted students (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• It does not matter if the child is retained early (kindergarten through 3rd grade) or later (4th through 8th grades), across the studies, “retention at any grade level is associated with later high school dropout, as well as other deleterious long-term effects.” (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• It’s estimated that over 2.4 million (5-10%) students are retained every year in the U.S. (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• Retention has been on the rise for the past 25 years (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• Retention is estimated to cost over $14 billion per year to pay for the extra year of schooling (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• Surveys of children’s ratings of twenty stressful life events in the 1980s showed that, by the time they were in 6th grade, children feared retention most after the loss of a parent and going blind. (Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2002).
• The study was replicated in 2001, 6th grade students rated grade retention as the single most stressful life event, higher than the loss of a parent or going blind (Anderson, Jimerson, & Whipple, 2002).
• The highest retention rates are found among poor, minority, inner-city youth. [NASP, Position Statement on Student Grade Retention and Social Promotion.]

“There are multiple explanations for the negative effects associated with grade retention, including: 1) the absence of specific remedial strategies to enhance social or cognitive competence; 2) failure to address the risk factors associated with retention; and 3) the consequences of being over-age for grade, which is associated with an assortment of deleterious outcomes, particularly as retained children approach middle school and puberty (stigmatizing by peers and other negative experiences of grade retention may exacerbate behavioral and socio-emotional adjustment problems).” [NASP, Position Statement on Student Grade Retention and Social Promotion.]

References:
Anderson, G., Whipple, A., & Jimerson, S. (2002, November). Grade Retention: Achievement and mental health outcomes. Communiqué, 31 (3), handout pages 1-3.

Retrieved February 2007 at http://www.nasponline.org/communications/spawareness/Grade%20Retention.pdf

National Association of School Psychologists (NASP): Position Statement on Student Grade Retention and Social Promotion (2003).

Retrieved February 2007 at http://www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/pospaper_graderetent.aspx