The Effect of Grade Retention on High School Completion

Brian Aaron Jacob · Lars John Lefgren

213 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Economic Journal Applied Economics

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School Choice and Performance Higher Education Research Studies Educational Outcomes and Influences

Abstract

Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. In this paper, we use plausibly exogenous variation in retention generated by a test-based promotion policy to assess the causal impact of grade retention on high school completion. We find that retention among younger students does not affect the likelihood of high school completion, but that retaining low-achieving eighth grade students in elementary school substantially increases the probability that these students will drop out of high school. (JEL I21, J13)

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References

1992Changes in Relative Wages, 1963-1987: Supply and Demand Factors 1995The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination 1997Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions 1987High School Dropouts: A Review of Issues and Evidence 2000The Effects of Class Size on Student Achievement: New Evidence from Population Variation 1991Framing dropouts: notes on the politics of an urban public high school 2003Rotten Apples: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Predictors of Teacher Cheating 2004Accountability, incentives and behavior: the impact of high-stakes testing in the Chicago Public Schools

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2010The Cost of Grade Retention 2014Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness in Education 2020How Schools Affect Student Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Approach in 35 OECD Countries 2017The effects of test-based retention on student outcomes over time: Regression discontinuity evidence from Florida 2011Does Grade Retention Affect Achievement? Some Evidence from PISA

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