As the end of the school year approaches, a large number of U.S. students are facing an unpleasant possibility: They may be asked to repeat a grade due to low test scores. In response, some states want to scrap rules that hold unready students back for a year. That would be a mistake. Rather than lowering academic expectations, schools should give flailing students the added attention they need to meet them.
In recent decades, policymakers have placed greater emphasis on standardized test scores, particularly in reading, to determine whether kids should be promoted to the next grade. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia require that districts hold back students who fail to demonstrate basic reading proficiency by third grade. Several large public-school systems, including New York City and Chicago, adopted grade-retention mandates of their own.
Such policies historically affected a small portion of students, partly because states kept benchmarks low and allowed exemptions for children with learning disabilities and other challenges. Yet the learning loss caused by the pandemic has swelled the numbers at risk of flunking. In Michigan, the share of third-grade students failing to meet minimum reading standards rose 20% in the past year. In Tennessee, which will impose new reading requirements for third graders this spring, about two-thirds of students are expected to score too low to receive automatic promotion.
Faced with such prospects, some state lawmakers have called for easing grade-retention rules — or eliminating them altogether. In January, Chicago school officials dropped the use of standardized test scores as criteria for promotion. Last month, legislators repealed Michigan’s “Read by Grade Three” law, which requires holding back third graders who test more than a year below grade level. Under pressure from parents and teachers’ unions, legislators in Tennessee and Ohio have proposed similar rollbacks.
CRITICS OF grade retention point out that it’s expensive for schools to educate kids for an additional year. Some studies also show that holding students back may increase their likelihood of being bullied or dropping out. Those concerns are worth taking seriously.
Yet promoting large numbers of students who lack basic skills won’t help anyone. Although few kids relish the idea of repeating a grade, there’s evidence that staying behind can yield lasting benefits, particularly for younger students. Studies of retention policies in Florida, Indiana and New York City found that students forced to repeat third grade outperformed their peers in future years. The pressure to perform can also spur broader improvements: Since Mississippi instituted a test-based retention policy in 2013, its fourth-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress increased by eight points, while the national average dropped by five.
That said, kids who repeat a year won’t succeed without extra help. Districts should provide mandatory summer school for students who fail to meet proficiency standards and allow them to try to pass again. Students who are held back should receive individualized tutoring from high-performing teachers, with the goal of testing at grade level by the end of the academic year. Investing in early-learning programs can help more children reach proficiency by grade school and allow educators to identify students at greatest risk of falling behind.
Such measures won’t come cheap. But schools still have ample resources at their disposal, thanks to the relief funds handed out by Congress during the pandemic, much of which remains unspent. Few priorities are more critical than helping struggling students make the grade.
