This digest highlights major research findings about social promotion, retention, and programs that identify and assist students at risk of retention. Research findings indicate that, overall, neither social promotion nor retention offers lasting advantage nor leads to high performance. Some evidence supports, and little evidence disputes, the…

During the past decade, amidst the current context emphasizing educational standards and accountability, the practice of grade retention has increased. The call for an end to social promotion has generated a variety of recommendations and legislation regarding promotion policies. This context has served as a catalyst for numerous debates regarding…

Grade retention has been controversial for many years, and current calls to end social promotion have lent new urgency to this issue. On the one hand, a policy of retaining in grade those students making slow progress might facilitate instruction by making classrooms more homogeneous academically. On the other hand, grade retention might harm…

This report presents information from a conference of leaders from districts and states that have been implementing policies to end social promotion. Discussions examined: goals for ending social promotion; promising intervention strategies (using comprehensive accountability systems, using multiple measures to determine grade placement, offering…

With passage of several recent laws, the California State legislature intended to end social promotion, replacing it with a system of prevention, intervention, and retention. The "strategic schooling" approach depends on three elements: targets (both students and content), continuous feedback via assessments, and organizational and…

What should educators do with students who do not meet standards? Ideas and strategies that educators can use to answer this question are outlined in this book. Rather than relying on forced social promotion, schools can and should offer students a variety of helpful options, such as remaining in the same classroom with the same teacher for…

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…

This paper suggests that since neither grade retention nor social promotion work, there must be an alternative between these two extremes. Successful efforts to end these practices should: identify student problems as early as possible; intervene as soon as problems are identified; design the extra help around each student's needs; and have strong…

This report examines the limitations of research that has been conducted on the effects of retention and social promotion. It reexamines seven research studies that provide strong evidence based on strong methodology that includes the following three characteristics: (1) the studies identify the basis of comparison, that is, whether they are…

Many urban districts are sending thousands of poorly performing students to summer school to boost achievement. Boston, New York City, and other districts are finding summer school a costly, complicated intervention that does not always show immediate results or resolve social-promotion problems. Implementation strategies are outlined. (MLH)

The issue of grade retention and social promotion is still a very controversial topic. The empirical literature assessing the effectiveness of nonpromotion remains mixed. Nonpromotion seems most effective with students in white, suburban, and middle-class school districts. This paper describes a 4-year follow-up to an earlier controlled study by…

Examines the history of students who cannot do what educators want them to do, noting how educators have labeled poor performers in different periods and how these labels reflect both attitudes and institutional conditions. The paper summarizes four major historical explanations for why children fail and explores implications of this history for…

During the 1988-89 school year, the Kaufman Independent School District (Texas) developed a model program for students at risk of dropping out of school. The program linked a current basic skills instructional program, a vocational education program, and an at-risk program. The goal of TAPS (To Allow Pupils to Succeed) was to produce high school…

This bulletin examines some questions that arise when children are not ready for promotion: Should they be retained? Who decides? Are there alternatives to retention? What is the effect of retention on the student? Despite research limitations, those who examine the studies on grade repetition say they show that grade retention does not have a…

The curricular recommendations of the current educational-reform movement are discussed and their likely effects on at-risk youth are considered. Current reform efforts tend to focus on three major curricular changes: (1) increase the number of academic courses required to graduate from high school; (2) increase the time for education; and (3) end…