effect of grade retention on high school completion
By: Brian Jacob, Lars Lefgren.
Contributors: Lefgren, Lars.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13514.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13514.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 53
Subjects: Grade repetition; Dropouts -- Prevention -- Econometric models
Description: Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade in order to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. This practice is highly controversial, with many researchers claiming that it leads to higher dropout rates although selection issues have complicated previous analyses. In this paper, we use a regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of grade retention on high school completion. We find that grade retention leads to a modest increase in the probability of dropping out for older students, but has no significant effect on younger students.
Notes: "October 2007"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31).

Also available in PDF from the NBER World Wide Web site (www.nber.org).