Despite improvements, the primary education system in Haiti remains highly inefficient: children start primary school 2 years late on average, and fewer than 60% will reach the last grade of the cycle. While the official age for beginning primary school is 6, the average child enters first grade for the first time at 7.8 years old, after having…

"Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups" examines the educational progress and challenges students face in the United States by race/ethnicity. This report shows that, over time, students in the racial/ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska…

Over the past decade, Americans have become increasingly concerned about the high numbers--and costs--of high school dropouts. The time is now to build a similar consensus around this less-recognized but equally urgent fact: The pool from which employers, colleges, and the military draw is too small, and still shrinking, because millions of…

At the end of the 1999-2000 school year, 9,175 students in grades 3-8 in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina, failed to score at or above grade level on either reading or mathematics, or both sections of the North Carolina End-of-Grade (EOG) tests. Under the new WCPSS promotion/intervention policy in effect for the…

The 2000-2001 school year marked the first year of implementation of the Wake County Board of Education's Promotion and Intervention Policy at grades K through 8. It also marked the first year of the state's requirement that third, fifth, and eight grade students demonstrate grade level proficiency on the state End-of-Grade tests in reading and…

This report offers a review of the Chicago Public Schools' official policy on promotion and retention, a discussion of research on the issue of retention, and an analysis of June, 1989 retention rates in Chicago. The first section covers retention and promotion policies in Chicago and other cities and research on the effects of retention and…

This paper assesses progress made in elementary education in Latin America from 1990-2000. Besides examining completion rates, it looks at four critical indicators: the extent to which repetition rates have declined over the decade; the extent of timely access and on-time ages of elementary school students; the level or elementary school students'…

This report addresses the problem of school wastage in developing countries, provides the latest data on trends in repetition and drop-out, and deals with three questions: (1) how extensive is school wastage? (2) what are its causes? and (3) what can be done to make schools more efficient? Wastage is defined as the missed opportunities for…

The Austin (Texas) Independent School District presents its third and final report to the Texas Education Agency concerning the Summer School Pilot for 1982. This program was designed to provide additional basic skills instruction so that elementary school retainees would not fall further behind during the summer and would be better prepared to…

Students of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District who had been in first through sixth grade and had been retained at some point in their school careers were eligible to attend the 1982 summer school for retainees. A total of 1,193 students were enrolled for at least part of the summer school, with a 94 percent attendance rate for the days…

The Austin (TX) Independent School District presents its second report to the Texas Education Agency concerning the Summer School Pilot 1983. It contains a final report summary, a teacher checklist, and an observation followup. The report summary includes the following major findings: (1) retainees who attended summer school and those who did not…

This technical report documents staff and parent reactions to the 1982 Austin (TX) Independent School District summer school for retainees, provides data on fall teachers' assessment of retainee skills, and describes the nature of the long-term comparison group. A summary of this information plus appendices detailing the purpose, procedures, and…

This report from the Bethune Elementary School in Atlanta (Georgia) provides information on student achievement for the 1986-87 school year. The narrative presents 27 findings concerning enrollment, attendance, reading achievement, and math achievement. Conclusions generated from these findings are the following: (1) the school was below the…

Students of the Austin (Texas) Independent School procedures, and results District who had been in first through sixth grade during 1982-83 and were recommended for retention at the end of the year were eligible to attend the 1983 summer school for retainees. The program was designed to provide additional basic skills instruction so that retainees…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) adopted a new and more specific policy about elementary student retention in the 1981-82 school year. Students will be at least 1 year behind in their reading levels at grades 1 through 6 and/or 1 year behind in mathematics competencies at grades 4 through 6 to be considered for retention. Within the…