Recent research shows that retaining students is generally not the best option and does more harm than good. While a temporary boost in performance may occur, benefits do not tend to last and retained students are 60% less likely to graduate high school. Instead of retention, schools should focus on implementing new interventions, teaching strategies, and learning supports tailored to students' needs. As a parent, it's important to be involved in discussions with the school about retention or alternative options that may help a struggling child succeed.

1. Research shows that retention isn’t the
best plan for most kids.
Academics are only one thing to think about when considering retention.
You can talk to your child’s school about all the options before making a decision.
Holding kids back a grade—also known as “retention”—is far too common in Australia and the USA.
But if the school is considering having your child repeat a year (or if you are), there are some
important basics to know about it.
Why Schools May Recommend Repeating a Grade
If your child hasn’t built the academic skills she’ll need for the next grade, her school may advise
holding her back. The idea is that an extra year will help her catch up. But if they plan to do the
same, again, this is a real no no for me.
Sometimes your child’s academic struggles are just one factor that the school is considering.
Additional reasons that the school may cite can include:
Your child is very young for her grade or socially immature.
Your child has missed a lot of school due to serious illness.
Your child doesn’t reach the performance level expected for moving to the next grade.

2. Current Thinking on Retention
Recent research shows that, for the most part, holding kids back a grade isn’t the best practice. The
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) reports that some kids do better in school the
first year or two after being held back. But it also says that this effect doesn’t last.
A new study ,“The Scarring Effects of Primary-Grade Retention? A Study of Cumulative Advantage in
the Educational Career,” by Notre Dame sociologist Megan Andrew, published Sept. 26, 2014, in the
journal Social Forces is an empirically solid analysis that adds more weight to those who say
retention — what education wonks call repeating a grade — is ultimately harmful.
Andrew mined two large data sets in a way no researcher has done before and concludes that kids
who repeat a year between kindergarten and fifth grade are 60 percent less likely to graduate high
school than kids with similar backgrounds, and even 60 percent less likely to graduate high school
than siblings in the same family.
It's a powerful piece of research you should print off and talk about if a teacher, or are a parent of a
child struggling. Changing it so that the child is taught differently ie so they can learn in the way they
learn best, is hands down the best options all round.
http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/new-research-failing-students_2034/
NASP also reinforces that kids with learning and attention issues may not do better at all unless
there are new, specific interventions in place. If a child is held back because she’s struggling to learn,
more of the same kind of teaching doesn’t help. Moving up a grade with new learning supports in
place, or a complete shift by the school so that it is the teaching that changes, may be a better
solution.
Shane Jimerson of the University of California-Santa Barbara says teachers play a key role in deciding
which students will be retained, even though most teachers are unfamiliar with research that casts a
dubious light on this practice. School psychologists should study the research and present it to
school staffs, Jimerson recommends, and they should head teams consisting of counselors, teachers,
and administrators who will make pass/fail decisions.
But before they make those decisions, he says, team members should know these research findings:
� Retaining elementary-age students may provide an achievement "bounce," but gains tend to be
slight and temporary; once the bounce tapers off, students either level off or again fall behind their
classmates.
� Retaining kindergarten and first-grade students as a preventive intervention is no better for
students than retaining them in upper grades.
� Retaining students without providing specific remedial strategies and attending to students' risk
factors has little or no value.
Team decision making might help avoid a problem RMC Research Corporation's Beckie Anderson has

3. identified. She reports that teachers often retain students to avoid criticism from teachers in the
next grade for promoting poorly prepared students. Many principals, it turns out, are quietly
complicit in this practice by giving teachers complete authority over retention decisions.
What You Can Do
As a parent, you play an important role in your child’s education. You have the right to be involved in
the decision-making process.
If your child’s school suggests that she repeat a year, it’s a good idea to sit down with her teacher to
find out why. You can also ask what changes would be made in the ways your child is taught if she’s
held back a year. It’s important that there’s a plan in place that you believe will help your child
succeed.
When you meet with your child’s teacher, you can also discuss what alternatives there might be to
retention. Some questions you might bring up:
Are there new accommodations that could increase her success in the classroom next year? Are
they going to change strategies (eg use SSP, which is effective for all learners!)
Do her IEP goals and services need to be revised to help her be more successful?
Are summer learning programs an available option?
Would one-on-one tutoring be helpful in making sure your child can move up to the next grade?
It may help to go to this meeting prepared with a working knowledge of the pros and cons of
retention. And even if you disagree with your child's teacher, it’s important to build a good
relationship with him or her.
Miss Emma
Wiring Brains Education
www.wiringbrains.com
Adapted from :
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/choosing-changing-schools/moving-up/retention-
why-kids-are-held-back
http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=63
http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/new-research-failing-students_2034/