This booklet, part of a series of reports on "hot topics" in education review the research and conventional wisdom concerning retention and promotion and includes an exploration of alternative practices that can be used to prevent failure and improve a student's chances for successful remediation. The booklet also describes how two…

Notes that research shows that neither grade retention nor social promotion improves educational success. Suggests that familiarity with this research is essential when seeking intervention strategies. Considers how it is possible to strengthen the connection between research and practice by recognizing that educational professionals who know…

Public support for improving public schools over seeking alternatives remains high (70%). Opposition to private contracting is growing. Fully 79% of public-school parents think schools effectively prepare students for the labor market; 72% want higher promotion standards. Inadequate discipline, violence, and scanty funding remain top problems.…

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…

Proposes guidelines for a student promotion/retention policy including clear academic goals and expectations, the use of multidisciplinary teams to make decisions about grade repetition and monitor student progress, opportunities for the students to "catch-up" with their age peers, and program alternatives to retention and social…

Describes how ideas that grew out of Ron Edmonds's research were translated into educational policy in New York. Focuses on the three primary components in Edmonds's broad attempt to redefine and implement educational equity: desegregation, school effects, and effective schools. Also details Edmonds's innovative attempt to end social promotion in…

The Improving America's School Act funds numerous small programs that dissipate its purpose and increase its vulnerability. Congress is debating extension of federal roles into areas such as social promotion, parental rights, reading programs, class-size reduction, and national voluntary tests. Changing budget rules pits education against military…

This book on the topic of flunking and grade retention comprises the following articles: (1) "Introduction and Overview" (Lorrie A. Shepard and Mary Lee Smith); (2) "Grade Level Retention Effects: A Meta-Analysis of Research Studies" (C. Thomas Holmes); (3) "Repeating and Dropping Out of School" (James B. Grissom and Lorrie A. Shepard); (4) "A…

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…

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…

This theme issue includes five articles that focus on educational policy in the Texas legislature in relation to student retention, Internet access, and sexual harassment. "1999 Texas Legislative Session--End of an Era?" (Albert Cortez, Maria Robledo Montecel) examines educational equity issues facing legislators: school funding,…

Included in this review of the literature on grade retention are annotations for 13 articles supporting nonpromotion policies, 13 articles refuting nonpromotion policies, and 5 articles arguing that both policies result in undesirable consequences. Articles are identified as being: (1) original research comparing students retained with students…

This anthology is intended to serve as an introduction to some of the big issues that shaped and continue to shape policy, practice, and debate over public schooling. Perspectives on these issues are presented in 32 chapters: (1) "The Educational Situation" (John Dewey); (2) "Progress or Regress?" (David Tyack and Larry Cuban);…

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…