A central focus of this report is estimating whether retention had a positive impact in students' achievement growth. Evaluating the effect of retention means that the researchers have to find a comparison group of low-achieving students who might represent what would have happened if those students who failed to make the promotional cutoff had…

This report takes an in-depth look at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers' responses to the high-stakes-testing initiatives and the impact on students' school experiences. It examines teachers and principals' assessments of the policy, tracks changes in instructional practice over time, and examines trends in critical student indices. The report…

In the mid-1990s, the Chicago Public Schools declared an end to social promotion and instituted promotional requirements based on standardized test scores in the third, sixth, and eighth grades. This article examines the experience of third and sixth graders who were retained under Chicago's policy from 1997 to 2000. The authors examine the…

Examined the responses of 102 low achieving sixth and eighth graders to Chicago's highly publicized efforts to end social promotion. Students generally described increased work efforts, and students with high levels of work effort generally had greater than average learning gains and positive outcomes in terms of promotion. About one-third of…

In the 1996-1997 school year, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Illinois, began a national trend when it included a required summer program, Summer Bridge, as a central component of its efforts to end social promotion. More than 21,000 students in grades 3, 6, and 8, the promotional gate grades, have attended Summer Bridge each year, making it one…

This report examines the performance of students facing the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) policy to end social promotion in 1999. As the third group to face CPS promotional test cutoffs, they received more programmatic support than previous students. An afterschool program was expanded considerably, and many more at-risk students were required to…

In 1996, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began an initiative aimed at ending social promotion and raising achievement. The centerpiece of the initiative is a set of test-score cutoffs for third, sixth, and eighth graders, who must achieve a minimum score on standardized reading and mathematics tests to be promoted to the next grade. Students who…

In 1996, Chicago became the epicenter for this debate when it "ended social promotion" in the third, sixth, and eighth grades. While not the first, Chicago's initiative has been the most sustained to date and has produced the clearest evidence of positive as well as negative results. Test scores rose rapidly after the institution of…