Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)


Blue Prefunction (Omni Shoreham)

An Analysis of Moderators of the Negative Relationship between Grade Retention and School Performance

Susan Stone, PhD, University of California, Berkeley.

Purpose: A robust body of research questions the efficacy of grade retention. Little evidence supports either short or long term benefits on student grades and achievement. Moreover, the experience of retention itself increases risk for later school dropout. In spite of the evidence, grade retention remains a common practice and, as such, an emerging literature attempts to identify factors that may ameliorate retention-induced risk. These studies suggest three potential sets of factors: (a) student “academically enabling” attitudes and behaviors, (b) family-level psycho-social support and (c) “student centered” school environments (i.e. characterized by orderliness, academic challenge and support). The current study considers the extent to which these factors in combination moderate the negative effect of grade retention on grades; it also considers the extent to which similar patterns of relationships across these factors relate to the current grades of retainees versus non-retainees.

Methods: This study capitalizes on the School Success Profile (SSP) dataset (Bowen & Richman, 2001) to investigate student experience of grade retention. Approximately 25% of students surveyed were retained across survey years. Additionally, the rich set of survey items capture various academic enablers (i.e. homework completion, engagement in and liking of school), family supports (relational, social, and academic) and student perceptions of school student centeredness (principal and teacher support, risky peer behaviors). Key dependent variables include student-reported current grade point average and the number of D's and F's received. Using multiple regression techniques, grade indicators were modeled as a function of retention status, measures of academic enablers, family support, and school student centeredness and key controls (student race/ethnicity, free lunch status, school moves age, grade, and cohort and school average retention, mobility, minority enrollment and free lunch rates). Regressions adjusted for the clustering of students within schools. The first set of analyses included interaction terms between retention status and all academic enabling, family support, and student centeredness indicators. The second set of analyses estimated these models separately models for retainees and non-retainees.

Results: As expected, students reporting a prior grade retention earned significantly lower grades and higher numbers of D's and F's than their non-retained counterparts. Student engagement in school and home support for learning positively, albeit weakly, moderated the negative relationship between retention and grade point average. Similarly, student engagement and liking for school moderated the relationship with number of D's and F's. Subgroup analyses found that student perceptions of positive school climates were unrelated to grades among retainees.

Implications: Results suggest that specific academic enablers and family supports—engagement and liking for school and home support for learning—have independent moderating influences on the negative relationship between grade retention and school performance. These effects, while theoretically salient, must be tempered in light of their relatively modest benefits. That retainees—unlike their non-retained counterparts-- garnered no benefits from the perceived student-centeredness of the school environment is compelling and suggests school-related mismatches among this subset of academically vulnerable students. Implications for grade retention policy are discussed.


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