The effectiveness of grade retention as an intervention strategy for academic failure as perceived by school psychologists

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, there has been public and political pressure to improve the quality of education. Schools have been encouraged to adopt grade retention policies to help children who are failing behind academically. Given the large number of students affected by this educational intervention, a study of the effectiveness of retention is worth of educational research. This research project involves survey research pertaining to grade retention. The study examines perceptions of practicing school psychologists regarding the academic, social, and emotional effects of this educational intervention. The results of this study show that school psychologists perceive grade retention as being an ineffective intervention. In addition, they identified few positive academic, social, or emotional outcomes of retention. Other results indicate that school psychologists perceive the existence of several influential factors as impacting the retention decision. Implications of the results are discussed and suggestions for future research are addressed.