Abstract

The practice of retaining students in grade has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Traditionally, the decision to hold students back was made by teachers and parents about individual students, based on a holistic appraisal of the child’s school performance. Beginning in the 1980s, the accountability movement brought a dramatic shift in the practice of grade retention. Increasingly, policies at the state and district levels mandated grade retention for students who failed to meet specific criteria for promotion. ¹ Grade retention under such conditions is on a much larger scale, and is qualitatively different from traditional grade retention. In this chapter, we discuss what is known about traditional and mandated retention and the issues involved in studying their short- and long-term academic and social outcomes. ²