Examining the Perceived Effects of Kindergarten Retention on Students' School Performance: How Students Fare Three Years Later in the Third Grade

Abstract

This is a qualitative case study that investigates the practice of kindergarten retention by examining the performance of third grade students who were retained in their kindergarten year for failing to master prescribed grade-level standards. The sample of this study was composed of five third-grade students who had been retained in kindergarten and whose performance in school was still below the third-grade level. Data for this study was collected from four sources: (a) interviews with the five third-grade students, their teachers and their parents, (b) surveys from the parents of the five third-grade students and their teachers, (c) surveys from nine kindergarten teachers and the principal of the selected school, and (d) descriptions of the five third-grade students' neighborhoods, their school, and their classrooms. Case narratives for each of the five third-grade students were developed using the four data sources. This study showed that there were seven factors responsible for kindergarten students' low performance in school: low teacher expectations; subjective teacher observations of student performance; deficient and partial assessments; unfair grouping practices of students; unrealistic curriculum pacing; ineffective and inconsistent interventions; students' poor school-readiness skills. This study also finds that third-grade students continued low school performance could be influenced by factors such as: students' home-structure and after-school routines; parent support for school; students' lack of motivation to perform school tasks; types of interventions implemented at school to assist struggling students; parent work schedule; neighborhoods recreational resources; high-stakes testing. This study makes five recommendations for future research and policy development: (a) identify students with at-risk behaviors early in the school year, (b) design and implement interventions that address students' specific needs, (c) keep parents informed, (d) access other support systems in the school, and (e) continue with intense, sustained interventions in all grades for at-risk students or until the students can work independently on or above grade level.