Question

Siggest ways to acess and retention of child in school.

Answer 1

The term "retention" in regards to school means repeating an academic year of school. Retention in school is also called grade retention, being held back, or repeating a grade. Grade retention is the opposite of social promotion, in which children continue with their age peers regardless of academic performance.

According to the National Association of School Psychologists, in 2003 as many as 15 percent or more than 2.4 million American students are held back and repeat a grade each year. Other studies have found that between 30 percent and 50 percent of all students are retained at least once by the time they are freshmen in high school (about age 14). In most cases, teachers recommend retention for one of three reasons: developmental immaturity that has resulted in learning difficulties; emotional immaturity that has resulted in severely disruptive behavior; or failure to pass standardized proficiency or achievement tests at the end of specific years. Another less common reason for retention is poor attendance due either to truancy or medical absences. Grade retention has become increasingly controversial as early 2000s education initiatives such as No Child Left Behind have pressed schools to meet certain standards defined by scores on standardized tests.

Students at highest risk of being retained share certain characteristics:

They tend to be boys.They tend to be African American or Hispanic.They are young or immature for their grade.They show developmental delays.They show attention, behavioral, or emotional problems.They are not proficient in English (English language learners).They have problems reading.They have changed schools often.They live in families with incomes below the poverty level.They live in single-parent families.They live with adults who are uninvolved in their education.Preschool

Sometimes preschool teachers will recommend that a child attend an extra year of preschool before enrolling in kindergarten. This practice is more common in suburban school districts than in urban ones. The theory behind this practice is to allow children, especially those who would be young compared to their peers in kindergarten (birthdays falling near the cutoff date for school entry), to gain maturity and a greater likelihood of success in kindergarten. One 1984 study found that more than 11 percent of six year olds were enrolled in kindergarten or pre-first classes rather than in first grade.

In some athletically competitive families, children are held back and start school one year later because parents believe this will give them an edge in high school sports that require strength and size. Studies have found that as a group students who begin kindergarten a year late do no better or worse academically than their younger classmates.

Elementary school

Retention is most likely to be recommended by teachers in grades one through three. The most common reason for retention is poor reading skills. As a group, students who are retained in these grades show initial improvement in academics. However, this improvement disappears after two to three years, after which retained students do no better or even slightly worse than similarly achieving students who were promoted. Studies also show that most elementary school teachers overestimate the academic benefits of retention. It has been suggested that this occurs because lower grade teachers see only the initial gains made by the student in the first few years after retention but do not follow the student's progress through middle and high school.

Retention in early elementary school does not appear to have an immediate effect on self-esteem or adjustment to school. However, by junior and senior high school, retained students tend to have more behavior problems, more difficulties with peer relationships, lower self-esteem, and poorer attendance.

Middle school

Retention can be emotionally traumatic for middle school students. A 1990 study found that being held back a grade was the third most stressful life event for sixth grade students topped only by the death of a parent or going blind. When this study was repeated in 2001, sixth grade students ranked flunking a grade as first in stress among these three events.

Middle school students who have been retained have more negative behaviors than their peers in academic ability who were not retained. These behaviors include smoking cigarettes, alcohol use, early sexual activity, and aggressive or violent behaviors. The retained group also had worse academic performance than similar students who were not retained.