On the Success of Failure: A Reassessment of the Effects of Retention in the Primary School Grades

by Karl L. Alexander , Doris R. Entwisle , Susan L. Dauber

• ISBN13: 9780521793971
• ISBN10: 0521793971
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is about the practice of grade retention in elementary school, a particularly vexing problem in urban school systems, where upward of half the students may repeat a grade. On the Success of Failure addresses whether repeating a grade is helpful or harmful when children are not keeping up. It describes the school context of retention and evaluates its consequences by tracking the experiences of a large, representative sample of Baltimore school children from first grade through high school. In addition to evaluating the consequences of retention, the book describes the cohort's dispersion along many different educational pathways from first grade through middle school, the articulation of retention with other forms of educational tracking (like reading group placements in the early primary grades and course-level assignments in middle school), and repeaters' academic and school adjustment problems before they were held back.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	vii
Grade Retention: Lingering Questions	1	(15)
Research on Grade Repetition: Strong Opinions, Weak Evidence	16	(19)
Retainees in the ``Beginning School Study''	35	(10)
Children's Pathways through the Elementary and Middle School Years: Retention	45	(18)
Characteristics and Competencies of Repeaters: Who Is Held Back?	63	(19)
Achievement Scores before and after Retention	82	(35)
Adjusted Achievement Comparisons: The Need for Controlled Comparisons and the Multiple-Regression Approach	117	(27)
Academic Performance as Judged by Teachers: Report Card Marks before and after Retention	144	(22)
The Stigma of Retention	166	(32)
Retention in the Broader Context of Elementary and Middle School Tracking	198	(25)
Dropout in Relation to Grade Retention	223	(19)
The Retention Puzzle: Problem, Solution, or Signal?	242	(23)
Appendix: Authors Meet Critics, Belatedly	265	(15)
References	280	(23)
Author Index	303	(7)
Subject Index	310