54 of those studies showed that when retained children went on to the next grade, they actually performed more poorly on average than if they had gone on without repeating. Only 9 of the 63 studies showed overall positive results, and most of these compared retained students who had received extra help through individualized programs and smaller classes to promoted control children who had not been given comparable assistance. Even with this extra assistance, the apparent benefits of retention tended to diminish over time so that differences in performance between retained and control children disappears. Alexander and Entwisle at John Hopkins University have been tracking students who began first grade in 1982. Consistent findings show that student retention is associated with an increased probability of students dropping out of schools, rather than the other way around.
Dropouts are five times more likely to have repeated a grade than are high school graduates.
This is true even in affluent suburban school districts. Remedial help, multi-age classrooms, before and after school programs, instructional aides to work with target children in the regular classroom, and peer tutoring have all been shown to be more effective than retention. The decision to allow a deficient student to advance to the next grade with a plan for special help is analogous to prevalent school policies for gifted students. Multi-age classrooms are another solution. Older children gain as they reinforce their own learning by teaching what they know to younger peers.