Removing retained students' scores raises 1998 ITBS scores in grades three, six, and eight, while adding predicted retained-student scores lowers fourth and seventh grade scores¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1998 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Removing retained students raises 1998 scores in grades three, six, and eight in both reading and math, and adding them back into grades four and seven lowers those scores. → John Q. Easton 1998

Evidence¶

John Q. Easton 1998¶

John Q. Easton, Brian Jacob, Stuart Luppescu, Melissa Roderick. (1998). Adjusting Citywide ITBS Scores for Student Retention in Grades Three, Six, and Eight. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/adjusting-citywide-itbs-scores-student-retention-grades-three-six-and-eight

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Re-analysis of spring 1998 Chicago Public Schools ITBS data, separating first-time students from retained students in grades three, six, and eight and reassigning estimated higher-grade scores to grades four and seven. The article reports that removing retained students makes the 1998 scores "higher than reported in both reading and math" in the adjusted grades.

"In third, sixth, and eighth grades, when we remove the scores of retained students, the 1998 test scores are higher than reported in both reading and math. In fourth and seventh grades, when we include the retained students as if they had taken the test in those grades, the scores are lower than reported."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Grade-by-grade adjustment magnitudes: removing retained students raises third grade scores about one month in reading and half a month in math, while adjusted fourth grade scores fall about two months in reading and one and a half months in math — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Adjusting for retained students, systemwide 1998 reading scores are essentially unchanged and math scores fall slightly, but both remain above 1997 levels; the authors judge the promotion policy did not seriously distort the results — related
• Retained students made up 15 percent of tested third graders, 10 percent of sixth graders, and 4.6 percent of eighth graders in 1998 — related