Mandatory grade retention for poor-performing readers has been a disputed practice for decades. Since the early-2000s, state-level mandatory grade retention policies have proliferated. In 18 states and Washington, D.C. mandatory grade retention exists for students in the third-grade who fail an end-of-year standardized reading exam. These policies…

The provision of "alternative" education is increasingly common in the countries of the world, but highly varied in its forms and coverage. In its commitment to provide education for all to age 18, Chile recently expanded its system of schools for teenage dropouts and has funded research on how best to educate these youth. This article,…

"The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB) made schools accountable for student performance through standardized testing. Some claim high-stakes testing is an inexpensive vehicle through which to raise educational standards, however, these studies typically count only the administrative costs of test development, test delivery, and…

Student retention has been a divisive educational question since the turn of the century. And although early educators found that retention was not particularly effective, they continued using it because their options were limited. Today, educators have many options to retention. Using the database from Project STAR, a study explored the common…

Retention of students began soon after the introduction of graded elementary schools in the mid-1800s. As early as 1911, research started to show that retention failed to remedy the difficulties of academic achievement and social adjustment exposed through graded schools. Educators today have a number of options other than retention designed to…

This booklet, part of a series of reports on "hot topics" in education review the research and conventional wisdom concerning retention and promotion and includes an exploration of alternative practices that can be used to prevent failure and improve a student's chances for successful remediation. The booklet also describes how two…