GRADE RETENTION 1

Karen Fombona

LBS 355-02

Grade Retention

Page Numbers: 5

Paper #4 Draft #2

May 3, 2017
GRADE RETENTION 2

Grade Retention

For the past decades, grade retention has been a debatable topic in the education world.

Some say grade retention has positive effects and some say it has negative effects on

students. There has been new research as to whether grade retention is, in fact, beneficial

to a students academic life, or if grade retention is just harming the students. Russo (2005)

mentions the retention policy was relatively a steady improvement in the Chicago schools;

however, he also mentions that retention has a potentially negative effect on a childs love

of learning. I believe grade retention has an overwhelmingly negative effect on students

because grade retention is not effective in promoting positive academic achievement, it

correlates with dropping out of school, and it is also a waste of a lot of money that could be

used for something more effective.

The reason for grade retention is to help improve the students and help them achieve

academic achievement. Yet, grade retention has been proven to not be effective in

promoting positive academic achievement. Goldman and Aldridge (2007) mentions how

studies have found that when retained students are compared to promoted students, the

promoted students outperformed the retained students the next year. Some might say

grade retention is effective when it occurs with lower grade levels; however, there is a

considerable amount of research that shows that retaining children in kindergarten and

first grade is ineffective and harmful. Therefore, grade retention is not effective in

promoting positive academic achievement.

Grade retention does not help the students academic achievement. Instead of

promoting positive academic achievement, grade retention makes children feel poorly

about their capabilities and has a personal effect on the children. Some clinical interviews
GRADE RETENTION 3

have shown that children who have been retained display disciplinary problems, are teased

by classmates and have a difficult time adjusting to school (Goldman & Aldridge 2007).

Also, children who have been retained are more likely to drop out of school. As Anderson,

Whipple, and Jimerson (2002) states, What is most important is that, across studies,

retention, at any grade level is associated with later high school dropout, as well as other

deleterious long-term effects (p. 1). In addition to grade retention having negative personal

affects on children, grade retention also correlates with dropping out of school so what

good, if any, is grade retention doing?

Grade retention leads to children feeling poorly about themselves, getting teased,

dropping out of high school, and on top of that it is a waste of a lot of money that could be

used for more effective methods than grade retention. The cost of retaining and

reeducating students for one year is startling. In 1996 to 1997, there were about 42 million

children enrolled in public schools and at least 3.2 million children, 7 percent, were

retained, which turned out to be an estimated cost of almost 19 billion (Goldman, 2007).

Nineteen billion dollars gone to waste to grade retention, which didnt even make the

improvements necessary for the children. Instead of using that money for grade retention,

schools could use that money for afterschool programs or tutoring to help the children

improve and get the children where they need to be.

In conclusion, grade retention does not promote positive academic achievement, it also

is associated with dropping out, and it is a waste of money, which is needed elsewhere. For

these reasons, grade retention has been proven to be more harmful to students than it is

beneficial. As a future educator, new methods need to be analyzed and used in schools that

will guarantee the improvement of the necessary skills of the children. Finally, people in
GRADE RETENTION 4

education need to get rid of grade retention because over the years, it has been proven,

through multiple studies to be more harmful to students than it is helpful.

GRADE RETENTION 5

References

Aldridge, J., & Goldman, A. R. (2007). Excerpt from current issues and trends in education.

Boston, MA: Pearson.

Anderson, G. E., Jimerson, S. R., & Whipple, A. D. (2002). Grade retention: Achievement and

mental health outcomes. National Association of School Psychologists, 1-3,

137-140.

Russo, A. (2005). Retaining retention. Education Next, 12(1), 43-48.