Grade Retention Argument

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Grade retention seems like a reasonable solution to a serious problem. A child is significantly behind their peers, maybe they are emotionally immature, or they cannot quite grasp what is being taught to them. The first thing to do is make sure the child does not have a learning disability, after that, it is determined that since this child is falling so far behind there is no other option than to hold them back a grade. This will ensure that they have time to catch up with their classmates and move on to have a successful school career. Schools implement this every year, despite the research proving how unsuccessful grade retention is. There is no clear cut way to help a struggling child. Children learn in such diverse ways. It is a challenge to help someone falling behind, it takes time, effort and research to realize what is going to be effective for a struggling student. Grade retention is harmful to the student, it negatively impacts the child’s academics, it leads to early dropout, their self-esteem suffers, and it is not a cost effective way to help a child succeed. …show more content…

Since it is not an easy decision to make the child’s parents, school instructors and counselors are all involved in the process. Conversely, there is also social promotion. Social promotion is the practice of moving a child ahead a grade even if they aren’t necessarily ready to be advanced to the next grade, the thought process their being that they will have time to catch up with the other students. Both of these practices are flawed in different ways, but what seems to be more detrimental to the student is grade retention. Jimerson (2001b) is quoted as saying that “grade retention suggests that it is not likely to be effective in remediating academic failure and/or behavioral

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