Kindergarten retention and transition classrooms: Their relationship to achievement

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between extra-year programs and later school achievement. Ninety-five children were identified as being either retained in kindergarten, placed in a transition classroom, recommended for an extra-year program but went into first grade, or as being in a control group of children who went from kindergarten to first grade without reservation. Results indicated that children retained in kindergarten performed significantly lower on a standardized achievement test than did children in the other three groups. Despite an extra year of schooling, children placed in transition classrooms did not differ significantly in their performance from children who were recommended for an extra year but went onto first grade and children in the control group.

Quality of Research Design Moderates Effects of Grade Retention on Achievement: A Meta-Analytic, Multilevel Analysis

“…Because we could not control for pre-retention differences in retained and promoted kindergarten children, we excluded their kindergarten sample in our analysis. Similarly, Dennebaum and Kulberg (1994) used school ability index scores measured during the repeat year as an indicator of retained and promoted group equivalence. Future studies should employ only the measures obtained prior to retention to control for pre-retention differences between retained and promoted students.…”

“…When a study employed more than one comparison group (e.g., a randomly selected group of promoted students and a “low achieving” group of promoted students), we selected the comparison group that had the best quality of match (e.g., Pierson & Connell, 1992; Reynolds, 1992; see Coding Procedure below). When a study employed more than one retention group (e.g., students repeating a grade and students placed in pre-first or transition classrooms; Dennebaum & Kulberg, 1994), sample-size weighted statistics were calculated to form one single retention group. Furthermore, weighted statistics were also calculated for studies that reported separate outcomes for nonoverlapping groups such as boys and girls (e.g., Pagani et al, 2001) or black and white students (e.g., McCombs-Thomas et al, 1992).…”

The relationship between school-entry age and academic achievement in Lebanon. (c2011)

“…Other researchers, however, found no relationship between SEA and academic achievement (Aliprantis, 2010;Bellisimo et al, 1995;Cameron & Wilson, 1990;Demarest, Reisner, Anderson, Humphrey, Farquhar, & Stein, 1993;DeMeis & Stearns, 1992;Dennebaum & Kulberg, 1994;Dietz & Wilson, 1985;Garratt, 2002;Narahara, 1998).…”

Examination of factors related to kindergarten readiness

“…Numerous research studies have found that students held back in kindergarten are more likely to be younger minority boys from lower SES homes and those children with a diagnosed developmental delay and greater inattention/hyperactivity problems (Frey, 2005;Graue, Kroeger, & Brown, 2003;Mantzicopoulos & Morrison, 1990;West, et al, 2000;Zepeda, 1993) Kindergarten retention is usually recommended as a way to help students who struggled to master the skills and concepts taught in the first year to "catch-up" before moving on to first grade, but retention is frequently a controversial topic for families and schools alike (Shepard & Smith, 1987;Silberglitt, Jimerson, Burns, & Appleton, 2006;Zepeda, 1993). Opponents argue that simply duplicating the same experiences again for another year will not help if the child was not successful the first time around (Mantzicopoulos & Morrison, 1990), and the majority of research in this area fails to provide much, if any, support for retention practices, citing social/emotional difficulties and few lasting educational benefits for retainees (Dennebaum & Kulberg, 1994;Frey, 2005;Graue, et al, 2003;West, et al, 2000;Zepeda, 1993). Zepeda (1993) examined background differences between children retained in kindergarten and the kindergarten population as a whole in central California, in addition to the connections between retainees and the type of kindergarten curriculum/classroom these students experienced.…”

“…The authors concluded that school districts need to reconsider retention policies, as little or no academic benefit was found for children who repeated kindergarten. Dennebaum and Kulberg (1994) compared the later school performance of students who had repeated kindergarten, children who enrolled in a transitional program between kindergarten and first grade, children who proceeded to first grade despite retention recommendations, and children who went to first grade with no teacher concerns. Ninety-five…”