The case against grade retention

Last week we introduced the debate over social promotion: whether it is better to automatically advance students to the next grade or make them repeat a grade until they demonstrate the required academic proficiency.

We looked at reasons against socially promoting young people from one grade to the next. Namely, students can get passed along without acquiring the requisite skills for the next level of academics. Students can come to believe there are no consequences for failure. And students can wind up ill prepared for college and the work force. All are compelling reasons to hold them back.

But the case against retention is equally strong. Let’s begin with the psychological damage that it can cause. In short, retention can negatively affect a student’s peer relations and self-esteem.

Second, research indicates that students who are left back are more likely to drop out of school, although I think the connection here is questionable. It’s entirely possible that such children might have dropped out anyway.

Third, in some states, retention is based largely, if not solely, on standardized tests. Some students simply are not good test-takers, and some tests have been found to be discriminatory toward certain segments of the student population. Therefore, failure to perform well on a single measure is not a fair yardstick for such a drastic decision.

Fourth, the decision to retain a student can be a subjective one. Sometimes it is made solely by one teacher. But the student and teacher might have failed to connect, so the teacher’s assessment of the child is not necessarily valid. That same student might have been more successful with a different instructor, materials and teaching strategies

There is a quick fix for this problem. The decision to retain a student should be a team decision, rather than an individual one. Parents should also be heard and have a say. In some cases, a parent might actually advocate for keeping a child back because he or she is so lacking in skills to advance and/or because he or she lacks the social maturity to move on.