Student Retention Essay

To retain a struggling student is never an easy choice for parents and educators. But in some cases it may be the only option left available for that child. If a struggling child is retained, it may give them the chance to relearn, refresh, and obtain certain skills that may have been missed the first time around and this in turn may help them continue on to the next grade level. But then again research has provided evidence that while retained students seem to do better at the beginning of the new school year they will eventually fall behind. It has also been stated that retention should not be the only plan. Retention should be the final choice when all others have been exhausted. Research has shown that at-risk students who are given a strategic plan to succeed end up being promoted because they had more than one plan given to them. Students who are retained should have a documented report detailing the many methods and strategies given to them to help them

There are several different reasons besides this. A child’s maturity level can play a detrimental part to their ability to move on to the next grade. You see this mainly in elementary grades due to Kindergarten starts dates and cut offs. Some children that are right on the cut off start and find themselves not really ready maturity wise. This creates behavioral problems for children because they are in over their head. Children who are unable to do the task at hand may act out in order to get out of the school work that is too hard. This in turn could create a domino effect, once the student has acted out and students react to this they may develop an unattractive character trait better known as the class clown syndrome. In cases like these it sometimes benefits these children to repeat the year. It could build their confidence by giving them the extra time to relearn what they missed because of their