Grade Retention and School Dropout: Investigating the Association

High dropout rates among students who repeated grades are often cited as evidence that grade retention is harmful. This article uses event history analysis to explore whether and how a grade retention influenced graduation outcomes among one cohort of youths from an urban school system. Repeating a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American educational research journal 1994-12, Vol.31 (4), p.729-759
Main Author: Roderick, Melissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic Failure
Academic grades
Age Differences
Behavior Problems
Dropout Prevention
Dropouts
Educational Attainment
Educational research
Educational sciences
Elementary Secondary Education
Event Analysis
Grade Repetition
Graduates
High School Students
High schools
Junior High Schools
Juvenile Delinquency
Kindergarten education
Massachusetts
Middle schools
Public schools
School dropouts
School work. Docimology. Guidance
Success and failure
Teaching, Learning and Human Development
Urban Areas
Urban Schools
Urban Youth
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Summary:High dropout rates among students who repeated grades are often cited as evidence that grade retention is harmful. This article uses event history analysis to explore whether and how a grade retention influenced graduation outcomes among one cohort of youths from an urban school system. Repeating a grade from kindergarten to sixth grade was associated with a substantial increase in the odds of dropping out even after controlling for differences in background and postretention grades and attendance. This article explores whether grade retention may influence school dropout because it makes students overage for grade. Students who ended sixth grade overage for grade experienced substantial disengagement during middle school; nearly one quarter dropped out, and those who remained had significant declines in attendance. I find that the impact of being overage for grade during adolescence may explain a large proportion of the higher dropout rates among retained youths.
ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/00028312031004729