# data[].attributes.headline
The Facts: The Effect Of Grade Retention On Students And Teachers

# data[].attributes.subject
The Facts: The Effect Of Grade Retention On Students And Teachers

# data[].attributes.body
Grade retention is not a particularly common practice in Australia, with many schools preferring to implement the 'social promotion' method, through which students are promoted to the next year with their cohort (Martin, 2011). Although this method has been shown to have greater academic and non-academic benefits for students compared to grade retention, in some cases (approximately 5 - 15% in Australian schools) grade retention is the chosen solution (Martin, 2011).

Grade retention has been shown to have some positive outcomes for students, particularly in the early years immediately following retention. Students have been shown to have short term improved academic achievement as a result of grade retention, however evidence also shows that these positive outcomes are followed by a decrease in progress, reduced academic achievement, increased negative attitudes towards school, increased negative behaviour at school, and higher rates of dropout in later years (Martin, 2011; Jimerson & Ferguson, 2007 Range, Pijanowski, Holt, & Young, 2012; Stearns, Moller, Blau, & Potochnick, 2007). Research has also found that grade retention has resulted in significant decreases in achievement motivation, confidence, and self-esteem of retained students (Martin, 2011). Through repeating a year of schooling, particularly in later years, students may feel less confident in their academic abilities, and their motivation to attend school and make academic achievements declines, resulting in higher rates of missed school and an increase likelihood of school dropout. Longitudinal research has also shown links between grade repetition and a decreased likelihood of engaging in higher education, and students who repeated a grade had a lower hourly income than students who were recommended for retention but were promoted to the next year with the cohort (Jimerson & Ferguson, 2007). It is clear from grade retention research that students who repeat a year of school need additional support in order for the decision to repeat to have long-term benefits. The most obvious port of call for this support would be the teacher, as they have the task of guiding the student through their repeated year. However this task can be too great for teachers alone, as the process of teaching a retained student is often difficult, and teachers lack the appropriate time, skills, and resources to provide adequate support for these students (Bosma et al., 2010).

Grade retention is often used as a 'quick-fix' solution in schools - it is relatively easy to implement as students are simply required to repeat a year of schooling, however it can be an incredibly costly solution, and it often places a great deal of stress and pressure on teachers (Range et al., 2012). In the instance of grade retention, whether for academic, social, behavioural, or emotional reasons, the teacher must teach the student the same content under the same circumstances as the year prior, often with no intervention in the interim to better prepare the student for school (Martin, 2011). Often the teacher who recommends grade retention will see only the short-term benefits of retention for the student, yet will not observe the negative effects of grade retention as the student moves through their schooling (Range et al., 2012). Additionally, as the age range of the students in their class increases due to grade retention, the teacher must make changes to their pedagogical actions and curriculum planning in order to cater for more varied ability levels, which can perpetuate the retained student’s issues further (Martin, 2011). It also poses issues for teachers and their ability to manage classroom behaviour. As grade retention has been found to increase negative behaviours in the classroom, the teacher may have to dedicate a large portion of class time to managing the disruptive or challenging behaviour of the retained student, which not only impacts on the retained student’s learning, but also disrupts the learning of their peers, and can place a great deal of stress on the teacher.

While research demonstrates that grade retention tends to have poor results, teachers, principals, and parents continue to select grade retention as a solution to students' academic, social, emotional, and behavioural issues at school. In order to prevent students from experiencing the negative effects of grade retention, partnerships must be made to support students prior to and during the repetition of a year of school. As highlighted, this task cannot be achieved by teachers alone (Bosma et al., 2010). Rather, partnerships must be made with stakeholders that have the necessary expertise and resources to provide retained students with the adequate support to have a beneficial and rewarding experience while repeating a year of school.

Explore how grade retention is represented in the media in the 'Grade Retention in Australia' tab, then head over to the ‘What Can Be Done?’ tab to explore how stakeholders can improve the issues faced by students and teachers in the case of grade retention.

# data[].attributes.body
Understanding and Managing Challenging Behaviour

# data[].attributes.body
Managing Challenging Behaviours Professional Learning

# data[].attributes.body
The following additional services are available to parents through Kids At Max which aim to develop children's social and behavioural skills including a school readiness program, a social skills group, and a builders club. The organisation also provides services which support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families.

# data[].attributes.body
Autism Support Services

# data[].attributes.body
Builders Club - LEGO

# data[].attributes.body
Social Skills Group

# data[].attributes.body
The school programs offered by Kids At Max focus on targeting the specific needs of the school community. This includes programs that support students to build social skills, develop anger and anxiety management strategies, foster resilience, and ultimately improve their ability to function better at school. These programs can be tailored depending on the specific requirements of the issue being addressed and the number of students involved. The school programs also focus on equipping teachers with the knowledge and skills to support their students in the classroom. The school programs are facilitated by Kids At Max psychologists and teachers, who work collaboratively with the students and teachers to promote students’ maximum potential at school.

# data[].attributes.body
Kids At Max offers school consultations which provide targeted professional advice through working with principals, student welfare coordinators, curriculum coordinators, senior management staff and teachers. Consultations also focus on planning how to meet the needs of students with special needs and can provide assistance with preparing Individual Learning Plans. The Kids At Max team also provides consultations regarding specific areas of training including classroom behaviour management strategies and supporting children with learning difficulties. The Kids At Max team of psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists work collaboratively with school staff to ensure that the school is meeting the unique needs of their students.

# data[].attributes.body
In-school visits are conducted when students are experiencing social, emotional, behavioural or academic difficulties at school. Kids At Max school visits are implemented in order to directly observe student behaviour in the school setting. These observations are used to inform therapy and educational planning, and also to provide teachers with practical tools and strategies that can be implemented to effectively support the specific needs of the student in the classroom. Kids At Max works with schools to form a support network for the child which includes psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists, who work collaboratively with the school to develop a plan to assist the student in need of support.

# data[].attributes.body
Kids At Max is a Melbourne based organisation, located in Bentleigh East, that offers a range of services to help students reach their maximum potential. The services offered by the organisation include psychology, speech pathology, occupational therapy and education services for students aged 2-18 years. The team at Kids At Max believes in a strengths-based approach when working with students and their families, and works within the unique circumstances of each case to support each student to develop their skills to succeed academically, socially, emotionally and behaviourally. The Kids At Max team includes psychologists, teachers, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists, who work together to provide counselling, therapy and assessment and provide family-centred support and practical tools to empower students.

Kids At Max works one-on-one with families at their office in Bentleigh East, and also provides school-based services including school visits, school programs, and school consultations.These programs are aimed at building partnerships with families and schools to provide the necessary support for students with academic, social, emotional, and behavioural issues.

Head over to the 'School Visits', 'School Programs', and 'School Consultations' tabs to learn about the school-based services offered by Kids At Max.

# data[].attributes.body
One way to alleviate the pressure felt by teachers faced with the task of teaching grade repeating students, and work towards preventing the negative outcomes typically experienced by students who repeat a grade, is for the school to partner with the families of grade repeating students and community organisations that can provide support for the teachers and students affected by grade retention.

‘School-family-community partnerships are collaborative initiatives and relationships…[through which]...partners collaborate in planning, coordinating, and implementing programs and activities at home, at school, and in the community that build strengths and resilience in children to enhance their academic, personal, social, and college-career outcomes’ (Bryan & Henry, 2012, p. 408-409).

When schools, teachers, and families build strengths-based partnerships with organisations in the community, they are able to implement programs that can support and empower students that the school or teachers could not provide alone (Bryan & Henry, 2008). Creating strength-based partnerships is an effective way to alleviate school-based issues as these partnerships utilise the assets of community organisations in conjunction with the assets of the school, students, and their families, to target specific issues, and help build an environment in which students can achieve academic success by being empowered and having a sense of purpose (Bryan & Henry, 2008).

As highlighted by grade retention research, there is a need for additional support for grade repeating students which focuses on increasing academic success, and promoting positive attitudes about school, achievement, and attendance, while fostering resilience, confidence, and self-worth, and decreasing behavioural issues. By forming partnerships with community based stakeholders, each of these specific needs can be met by the unique expertise and resources they can provide. These partnerships will also strengthen relationships between students, their families, their teachers, and the school, as each stakeholder is able to contribute to developing and working towards a shared goal, and can offer their specific assets and expertise to create a plan of action that addresses the complex issue at hand (Bosma et al., 2010).

When creating partnerships with community organisations it is important to identify stakeholders that can best address the issue and can provide suitable strategies and solutions that will support the needs of those involved. In the case of grade retention issues, one such organisation that can help support students and teachers is Kids At Max.

Jump to the 'Kids At Max' tab for information about the organisation.

# data[].attributes.body
Repeating school has no social or academic benefit
(Mcneilage, 2014)

# data[].attributes.body
(Harrison & Collins, 2011)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Forcing low-achieving students to repeat grades is a recipe for poor performance, according to an analysis of recent international test data.

# data[].attributes.body
Media reports of the impact of grade retention in Australian schools

(Collerton, 2011)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Updated October 12, 2011 17:52:05

Children who are forced to repeat a year at school are likely to suffer both academically and socially, new research suggests.

OECD figures released this year found about 8 per cent of Australian students were repeating grades at school, often with the intention of helping them catch up and get better educational outcomes.

But a University of Sydney study of more than 3,000 students in eight different New South Wales schools has found repeating a child could have the opposite effect.

Professor Andrew Martin says the research found the students who repeated did not only suffer academically, but they also struggled in other ways.

"We found that students who repeated a grade tended to be less likely to do their homework, they had more days absent from school, they tended to be a bit lower on the academic engagement and motivation scale, they were lower in academic confidence and they were lower in their general self-esteem," he told ABC News Online.

"In many cases, it seems what educators and parents were hoping for does not quite happen.

"It seems that simply pressing the pause button does not get at the issues that might have led to the decision to repeat a child."

Professor Martin says while keeping students back a grade does work sometimes, especially for children in the very early years of schooling, the research shows it should not be the automatic response for students having difficulties.

"Rather than seeing grade repetition as the default option for under achievement and so on, it just tells us to pause for thought and really carefully consider what options can be rolled out to keep a child with their aged peers before there's a decision to repeat a child," he said.

"Think once, think twice, think three times, and really look at what options are available to keep a child with peers their same age."

Professor Martin says the study, published in the British Educational Research Journal, found there were more effective ways to help students than repeating.

"We should be providing an educational response to these students," he said.

"That means we identify the problem or issue at hand, and then provide targeted assistance to that child. Say literacy or numeracy, or issues around study or organisational skills.

"Or if the child was repeated because of social skills, the targeted intervention would be to do with social skills training.

"Sometimes that will be very brief intervention and that will do the trick, but sometimes it will be intervention over the medium to longer term."

He says the study also found a range of factors, such as age, ethnicity and gender, did not change the child's negative response to repeating years.

"Whether you're a boy or a girl or non-English speaking background, it seems like that negative effects of repeating did generalise across all subgroups," he said.

First posted October 12, 2011 12:17:15

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Repeating fails to help struggling students: report

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Updated October 12, 2011 17:52:05 Children who are forced to repeat a year at school are likely to suffer both academically and socially, new research suggests. OECD figures released this year found about 8 per cent of Australian students were repeating grades at school, often with the intention of helping them catch up and get better educational outcomes.

# data[].attributes.body
Kids At Max is an organisation that could be partnered with to support students, their families, and teachers to help prevent negative effects in the case of grade retention.

The organisation takes a strengths-based and family-centred approach to partnering with schools and families, which recognises and affirms the strengths of the children, their families, and the school community irrespective of their background or circumstances, and builds on these strengths to create appropriate support for the students, their families, and teachers (Bryan & Henry, 2008). Additionally, the organisation is not focused on simply building partnerships with one stakeholder, rather it aims to build partnerships with as many individuals as possible in order to create an inclusive and comprehensive network of support for the students (Bosma et al., 2010).

This organisation can provide students and their families with support in the form of services and programs that are tailored to the specific needs of the child and their family which have resulted in the need for grade retention, which could be implemented prior to the beginning of the repeated year in order to help the student prepare. The organisation provides programs that can develop students' social, emotional and behavioural skills, and offers school visits to directly target the social, emotional, behavioural or academic difficulties they are experiencing which have contributed to the decision to repeat a year of schooling. Additionally, the offered school programs can support students to build their social skills, develop anger and anxiety management strategies, foster resilience, and improve their ability to function at school, which can work towards preventing the negative effects of repeating a grade (Martin, 2011).

By implementing these interventions prior to or during the repeated year, the negative effects of grade retention, such as poor academic achievement, loss of motivation, lowered confidence, decrease attendance, and higher rates of behavioural issues,  may be prevented or reduced. Partnering with this organisation would take a step towards taking a proactive approach before the onset of these negative effects, rather than a reactive approach after onset (Martin, 2011). Additionally, through early implementation of school based programs and early engagement in additional social programs, such as the school readiness program or social skills group, the student may be able to improve their academic abilities, and their social, behavioural and emotional skills to a degree that allows them to take the social promotion approach rather than the grade retention approach, which has been shown to have greater success and fewer negative effects than grade retention (Jimerson & Ferguson, 2007; Martin, 2011; Stearns et al., 2007).

The Kids At Max team is made up of a number of professionals who specialise in working with children including psychologists, teachers, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists. The organisation therefore has a wide range of expertise when working with children, their families, and their schools, and can provide a wide range of support, strategies, and resources depending on the needs of the student.

Unfortunately as with most specialist services, the cost of these programs can be extensive, however some programs may be eligible for funding. A full list of program costs can be found on the Department of Social Services website.

Ultimately, Kids At Max provides a range of programs and resources that provide support for a range of needs, from individual child and family needs, to the needs of the whole school community. Kids At Max provide programs that specifically work with students to improve their school experience and help them achieve their full potential, while also providing support and strategies for teachers who are working with children who require individual support. Kids At Max is therefore an organisation that could address the needs of individuals involved in the grade retention process, and is therefore a suitable option for partnering with to alleviate and prevent the issues related to grade retention.

# data[].attributes.body
Additional stakeholders that could be partnered with or inspiration taken from their methods and structure include Kids Thrive and Berry Street.

# data[].attributes.body
School Readiness Program

# data[].attributes.body
Bosma, L. M., Sieving, R. E., Ericson, A., Russ, P., Cavender, L., & Bonine, M. (2010). Elements for successful collaboration between K-8 school, community agency, and university partners: The Lead Peace partnership. Journal of School Health, 80(10), 501-507. doi:10.5330/PSC.n.2010-12.149

Bryan, J., & Henry, L. (2008). Strengths-based partnerships: A school-family-community partnership approach to empowering students. Professional School Counseling, 12(2), 149-156. doi: 10.5330/PSC.n.2010-12.149

Bryan, J., & Henry, L. (2012). A model for building school-family-community partnerships: Principles and process. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90(4), 408-420. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2012.00052.x

Collerton, S. (2011). Repeating fails to help struggling students: Report. Retrieved from

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-12/repeating-fails-to-help-struggling-students/3553296

Harrison, D., & Collins, S. J. (2011). Repeating grades 'fails' students. Retrieved from

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/repeating-grades-fails-students-20110714-1hg3b.html

Jimerson, S. R., & Ferguson, P. (2007). A longitudinal study of grade retention: Academic and behavioral outcomes of retained students through adolescence. School Psychology Quarterly, 22(3), 314-339. doi:10.1037/1045-3830.22.3.314

Martin, A. J. (2011). Holding back and holding behind: Grade retention and students’ non-academic and academic outcomes. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 739–763. doi:10.1080/01411926.2010.490874

Mcneilage, A. (2014). Repeating school has no social or academic benefit. Retrieved from

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/repeating-school-has-no-social-or-academic-benefit-20140711-zt4dk.html

Range, B. G., Pijanowski, J., Holt, C. R., & Young, S. (2012). The perceptions of primary grade teachers and elementary principals about the effectiveness of grade-level retention. The Professional Educator, 36, 1-16. Retrieved from http://crawl.prod.proquest.com.s3.amazonaws.com/fpcache/79786485c12bec6e2d9820b31a8f12e7.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF7V7KNV2KKY2NUQ&Expires=1477225390&Signature=rBUQXMa69o4J%2FGXuLurkrdwG%2FZM%3D

Stearns, E., Moller, S., Blau, J., & Potochnick, S. (2007). Staying back and dropping out: The relationship between grade retention and school dropout. Sociology of Education, 80(3), 210-240. doi:10.1177/003804070708000302

# data[].attributes.body
Some additional resources that could be implemented by teachers and schools alongside partnering with Kids At Max include professional development programs which focus on developing teachers' skills in understanding and managing challenging behaviour in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
Berry Street

# data[].attributes.body
Kids Thrive

# data[].attributes.headline
Grade Retention - Supporting Students, Families And Teachers 

# data[].attributes.subject
Grade Retention - Supporting Students, Families And Teachers 

# data[].attributes.body
Making the decision for a student to repeat a year of schooling is often a difficult and stressful process not only for the child, but also for the child's family, their current teachers, and the teachers they will be working with in the following year. The decision for a student to repeat a year is often made so that the student has a more successful and rewarding school experience. In some cases this has been achieved, however often students experience a range of negative effects of repeating a year of schooling, and teachers are often not equipped with the necessary time, skills and training to provide the required support to prevent these negative outcomes. However, the student's school and teachers may be able to work towards improving the outcomes of grade retention and could alleviate teacher stress through building partnerships with organisations that have access to and provide the required expertise, training, and resources for this issue. This resource identifies and explores the issues that may arise due to grade retention, and identifies opportunities for partnering with a stakeholder that can work towards alleviating these issues to ensure that all students achieve their full potential in their journey through school.