Literature on retention focuses on both short term and long term outcomes for retained students. Short term outcomes typically include academic achievement, self-esteem issues, and occurrence of behavior problems. Long term outcomes include academic growth and persistence to graduation. Regardless of the focus and intent of the study, research on…

Although considerable research examines the impact of grade retention on student academic achievement, various shortcomings exhibited across these studies make it difficult to derive any concrete generalizations about the effectiveness of requiring students to repeat a grade. By utilizing data based on a cohort of all low-achieving elementary…