When Retention Has Been Recommended

Most classroom failure will not be solved when a child repeats a grade. In fact, studies show that most retentions are unsuccessful. In these unsuccessful retentions, the child is usually hurt by it. The child's academic progress is delayed; the child loses his or her peer group; and the child feels he or she has been labeled "stupid" or "a failure." The child then feels totally useless when he or she no more successful the second time through a grade.

One can see how important it is to thoroughly investigate the cause of school failure before acting on a retention recommendation. Make the school or counselor prove this recommendation is the correct course of action before agreeing.

What To Do:
All the following jobs should be completed before agreeing to a retention.

The child's classroom teacher should clearly document the skills that the child has not mastered during the current school year.

For example, for a kindergarten child, this documentation could show that the child has not learned to identify all the letters in the alphabet, or does not grasp simple concepts, or cannot follow directions and work independently.

A fourth grade teacher might show that the child cannot yet solve the math problems in the fourth grade workbook at an acceptable level, and in more than one subject area cannot grasp the concepts being presented.

The teacher of the next grade level should review these deficits and decide whether the child could learn the lessons to be taught in the next grade.

There are times when a child can do poorly in one grade and yet "catch up" with classmates during the next year. Sometimes teachers re-teach lessons from the previous grade and might not expect full mastery of all lessons. However, this can be known only if the current teacher consults with the teacher of the next grade level about next year's lesson plan.

If the first two steps indicate a problem for the child in the next year, then parents should a confer with the current teacher, and perhaps also with the school principal. In this meeting, plans for a formal assessment should begin. A formal assessment includes intelligence and achievement testing, teacher, child, and parent interviews and screening for emotional disorders.

The child should be referred to a school counselor qualified to conduct psychological testing or to an independent psychologist with training in school psychology. Either the parents or principal or teacher may make this referral, although the child's parents must consent.

Finally, all the parties in the evaluation process meet for a final planning session.

In this session, all the pertinent information about the child is available and the cause of the child's school failure is discussed. This meeting gives everyone an opportunity to make a joint decision about the best solution to the school failure. In some cases, grade retention alone can give the child the solid basis for better learning in the future.

More often, if retention is recommended, some additional assistance is also recommended. Children with personality or emotional disturbances need counseling. Children with learning disabilities need specialized education. Children with very low intelligence need special education programs which teach at a slower rate. A school can confidently recommend grade retention only when a complete assessment has been completed.