Should You Hold Your Child Back A Grade? "For almost 50 years, research has shown that grade-level retention provides no academic advantages to students," write two educators in the September 1998 issue of Education Leadership. William Owings, a superintendent of a Virginia public school, and Susan Magliaro, an associate professor of education at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, reviewed studies from 1933 to the present in preparing their article. According to the authors, studies have found that retained students are more likely to drop out, less likely to gain academically than their classmates who could have been retained but weren't, and retention may lead some students to disengage from school. From 1990 to 1997, sixty-five articles were written on the negative effects of grade retention while only one article supported retention. Yet, they point out, grade retention continues to be a common practice in schools. Options to consider other than retention: Mixed-age classes allow pupils to learn at a slower pace. Tutoring can help accelerate learning in the areas of struggle. Parental attention to study habits, homework, and self-discipline. Smaller class size can help give slower students more attention. Summer school or after-school programs. Sources: Education Leadership 9/98; ERIC Digest ED408102 © 2000, Gateways to Better Education