Retained students struggled in their second time through the promotional policy, with only about half meeting cutoffs and eighth graders doing worst¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2000 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? After two years in the same grade and two summers in Summer Bridge, 53 percent of third graders retained in 1998 met the test score cutoffs, up from 43 percent in 1997; sixth graders rose from 47 to 55 percent. → Roderick 2000 q2 i? Only about 38 percent of eighth graders who were retained or sent to Transition Centers in 1998 raised their scores to the cutoff by August, partly because many began dropping out at age 16. → Roderick 2000 (2)

Evidence¶

Roderick 2000¶

Roderick, M., Nagaoka, J., Bacon, J., & Easton, J. Q. (2000). Update: Ending Social Promotion: Passing, Retention, and Achievement Trends Among Promoted and Retained Students 1995-1999. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://www.consortium-chicago.org

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Cohort tracking of students retained in 1997 and 1998 through their retained year, including a new January retest chance in 1998-1999 that about one-quarter used. Performance was "only slightly better than in 1997."

"After two years in the same grade and two summers in Summer Bridge, 53 percent of third graders re- tained in 1998 were able to meet the test score cutoffs, compared with 43 percent of third grad- ers retained in 1997."

Roderick 2000 (2)¶

Roderick, M., Nagaoka, J., Bacon, J., & Easton, J. Q. (2000). Update: Ending Social Promotion: Passing, Retention, and Achievement Trends Among Promoted and Retained Students 1995-1999. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://www.consortium-chicago.org

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Cohort tracking of retained and Transition Center eighth graders. The brief attributes the dismal progress partly to dropout: the one-year dropout rate for these students was roughly comparable in 1998 and 1999.

"Only about 38 percent of eighth grad- ers who were retained or sent to T ransition Cen- ters in 1998 were able to raise their scores to the test cutoff by August."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Early-grade retention rose after the policy, and roughly 20 percent of first and second graders who were retained experienced a second retention in third grade — related
• Students who failed both reading and math made up the majority of retained students, and fewer than 20% of them passed both subjects in Summer Bridge — related
• Second-year outcomes were worst for retained eighth graders and Transition Center students: only 27% met the criteria by May 1998 and about 16% of officially retained eighth graders dropped out — related
• Only 43% of retained third graders and 47% of retained sixth graders met the test criteria by summer 1998 despite four chances, yet over two-thirds were promoted the next year largely due to waivers — related
• Retained students showed smaller three-year achievement gains than previously socially promoted students, though Rasch adjustment erased the gap for once-retained third graders — related
• Fewer than 60 percent of retained third and sixth graders in 1998 and 1999 raised their test scores to the promotional cutoff even with an extra January chance to pass — a broader claim this one bears on
• Eighth-grade achievement rose substantially in postpolicy cohorts, with the 1998 cohort's included students more than half a standard deviation above prepolicy levels
• In 1997, 31% of third graders and about 20% of sixth and eighth graders were excluded from Chicago's promotional test-score policy, with bilingual education the main exclusion reason in third grade and special education in sixth and eighth — related