Grade retention is at the core of the education debate in Spain, to the extent that its impact on students' competences has not been assessed beyond correlation. Because of that, in the present study, we analyse the influence of grade retention on students' competences, using more than 146,000 students from 6 PISA cycles (2003-2018) and an…

Grade retention decisions are high-risk because this practice can significantly affect students' academic and professional path and their socioaffective development. This study aimed to contribute to a better understanding of second-grade retention decision-making by exploring the factors the professionals consider during the retention…

Public policies targeting individuals based on need often impose disproportionate burden on communities that lack the resources to implement these policies effectively. In an elementary school setting, I examine whether community-level interventions focusing on similar needs and providing resources to build capacity in these communities could…

Do international large-scale assessments influence education policy? How? Through scripts, lessons, or incentives? For some, they all produce similar outcomes. For others, different assessment data, shaped by different designs, and mediated by international organizations' (IOs) policy directives, prompt different policy decisions. For some,…

The long-term effects on academic self-concept of grade retention are unclear. The objective is to examine the progression of academic self-concept in relation to school performance for retained students and non-retained students. The academic self-concept of 5712 students (1381 retained students) was evaluated at the fourth and eighth grade of…

There is a wide debate on the convenience of grade retention for students' future cognitive development. Nevertheless, due to the endogenous characteristics of grade retention to explain students' academic performance, most of the literature fails in capturing its actual influence. In the present research, we intend to get as close as possible to…

As algorithmic decision making is increasingly deployed in every walk of life, many researchers have raised concerns about fairness-related bias from such algorithms. But there is little research on harnessing psychometric methods to uncover potential discriminatory bias inside decision-making algorithms. The main goal of this article is to…

This annual report provides information for the 2022-23 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-8 on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading language arts and…

Grade repetition is an issue with important educational implications. This study analyzes the effect of cognitive variables, socio-economic status, as well as the interaction of socioeconomic status with ethnic origin, on the probability of not repeating. Data were collected to calculate socioeconomic status using the Hollingshead Socioeconomic…

Grade retention is often perceived as an academic failure and a negative response from the educational system. Hence, based on the social cognitive theory, being retained might decrease self-efficacy. This way, we expect that retainees are less likely to pursue a degree in higher education. Retainees that do enroll in higher education, are…

Social scientists seeking to inform policy or public action must carefully consider how to identify effects and express inferences because actions based on invalid inferences will not yield the intended results. Recognizing the complexities and uncertainties of social science, we seek to inform inevitable debates about causal inferences by…

Across the world, numerous students are being bullied at school. Bullying is often caused by a power imbalance between students. Therefore, identifying potential sources of such a power imbalance can prevent school bullying from happening. Based on the labelling theory, we expect that grade retention can lead to such a power imbalance and,…

This qualitative phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of adult immigrants repeating courses to meet academic requirements in higher education in the United States. The problem addressed in this qualitative phenomenological study was that United States educational institutions may not recognize and validate credentials adult…

In the face of Hong Kong's high grade-retention rates, this study aimed to investigate how Hong Kong secondary schools' grade-retention composition is associated with student performance and socioeconomic inequality in student performance. As the research questions involved analysis at the school and student levels, this study employed…

Many U.S. schools utilize grade retention (repeating grades when not meeting academic benchmarks) to allow more time for students to learn grade level material. However, some research suggests retention may increase inequalities and not help students progress. We use national data (Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study 2014-2017) and…