It's an age-old debate with an emerging conventional wisdom: Third graders should not move on to the next grade if they are still struggling to read.
There's both logic and evidence behind this policy. Studies have found that students have higher test scores after they're held back. This practice may also have played a role in helping Mississippi make remarkable improvements in recent years. A chorus of policymakers and journalists have insisted with growing confidence that others should replicate the state's model.
But a new study offers a warning about the downside risks of retention. Third graders who had to repeat a grade in Texas were far less likely to graduate from high school or earn a good living as young adults, nearly two decades later. The harmful effects were quite large and came despite initial improvements in test scores.
...
"In theory you wouldn't have to have retention," says Brian Jacob, a University of Michigan education professor. "In practice, the stick in the background may make everyone in the system more focused." This seems very possible, but we should understand that retention may very well be a stick, not a carrot.
