Effect of retention in first grade on children's achievement trajectories over 4 years: A piecewise growth analysis using propensity score matching.

Abstract

The authors investigated the relatively short-term and longer term effects of grade retention in 1st grade on the growth of mathematics and reading achievement over 4 years. The authors initially identified a large multiethnic sample (n = 784) of children who were below the median in literacy at school entrance. From this sample, the authors closely matched 1 retained with 1 promoted child (n = 97 pairs) on the basis of propensity scores constructed from 72 background variables and compared growth of retained and promoted children using Rasch-modeled W scores and grade standard scores, which facilitate age-based and grade-based comparisons, respectively. When using W scores, retained children experienced a slower increase in both mathematics and reading achievement in the short term but a faster increase in reading achievement in the longer term than did the promoted children. When using grade standard scores, retained children experienced a faster increase in the short term but a faster decrease in the longer term in both mathematics and reading achievement than did promoted children. Some of the retention effects were moderated by limited English language proficiency, home-school relationship, and children’s externalizing problems.

The effect of attending full‐day kindergarten on English learner students

“…Further, it is possible that, because more half-day children are retained and have an extra year of schooling before taking the CST, our estimates of the effects of full-day kindergarten on second-grade academic achievement are lower than they truly should be. However, recent literature on early grade retention suggests that being retained in kindergarten or first grade is associated with negative or neutral academic outcomes (Burkam et al, 2007;Hong & Raudenbush, 2005;Wu, West, & Hughes, 2008). We also tested the effect of full-day kindergarten on CST scores for only students who were not retained, and the results are quite similar to the results including retained students (results available from authors).…”

Short-term and medium-term effects of grade retention in secondary school on academic achievement and psychosocial outcome variables

“…Similarly, Pierson and Connell (1992) reported for a same-grade comparison study that effects of grade retention persisted only in the short-term but diminished within 2 or more years after the repeated year. Wu, West, and Hughes (2008a) found with both same-age and same-grade comparisons that grade-standardized scores obtained from mathematics and reading were higher for retained students than for promoted students in the short-term (about half a year after retention). However, this advantage disappeared in the long-term (2.5 years after retention).…”

Response to Intervention and Retention for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities: Differences in Academic Achievement between Retained and Non-Retained Students

“…Often, when a student fails to meet grade-level performance criteria, retention is considered because the educator believes that an additional year in the curriculum will help the student mature and prepare for the demands of the next grade level (Wu et al 2008). To the contrary, decades of research have demonstrated that retention does not benefit the student educationally, and may even have deleterious consequences for achievement and the student's social and emotional wellbeing.…”