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Project
Ready or not? A study on the effects of kindergarten retention
The transition from kindergarten to first grade forms an important milestone for children and their family. It concerns a sensitive period for children's academic and psychosocial development with potentially significant implications for later school success. Children who are considered unready to promote to first grade are often retained in kindergarten for an extra school year. But does this practice really make a difference? The present dissertation aimed at answering the question of how kindergarten repeaters would develop, were they promoted to first grade instead. To that end, we made use of the data from the large-scale longitudinal SiBO-project in Flanders, in which more than 6000 children were followed from kindergarten until Grade 8.
Grade repeaters and promoted children differ with regard to several demographic variables, knowledge and skills. Any difference in later outcomes can be confounded by these pre-treatment differences. In order to allow a fair comparison between repeaters and promoted children, it is important to adjust for these differences. In other words, investigating the effects of kindergartenretention involves a methodological challenge. In this dissertation, all techniques used to adjust for confounding make use of the propensity score. This is the probability to be treated (i.e., retained), given pre-treatment differences. In the first two studies, we matched kindergartenrepeaters on the basis of their propensity score with two groups: age-mates who were continuously promoted and age-mates who were retained in first grade instead. In the third and fourth study, we dealt with confounding by means of weighting by (the inverse of) the propensity score. In the fourth study, we applied a more advanced technique (i.e., marginal structural models) in which confounding and the resulting weights were allowed to be time-varying.
The results indicate that kindergarten repeaters would achieve better for mathematics, throughout their entire primary school career, if they were continuously promoted instead. However, social promotion does not seem to be the best alternative. First, when kindergarten repeaters are promoted to first grade anyway, they have a high risk of being retained in first grade instead and to achieve even lower in the long term. The relative advantage of being retained in kindergarten versus first grade matters most for relatively younger and initially rather higher achieving at-risk children. Second, we find that if at-risk children are promoted instead, several domains of their psychosocial development are harmed (e.g., wellbeing, peer relations, self-confidence, independent behavior, asocial behavior, hyperactivity, aggression).
In sum, the results of this dissertation indicate that both retention and promotion have important consequences for children at risk to be retained in kindergarten. We argue to provide additional support for at-risk children who are promoted, with special attention for their non-cognitive skills. Also, we hope to encourage the field to bring relevant structures, rules and beliefs of the educational system to the surface. Future research might be of use to map out the relevant grammar of schooling in a grade retention policy. We argue to reveal and address the contextual factors that prevent education to adapt to the great diversity of students, thereby safeguarding equal educational opportunities for all children.
Grade repeaters and promoted children differ with regard to several demographic variables, knowledge and skills. Any difference in later outcomes can be confounded by these pre-treatment differences. In order to allow a fair comparison between repeaters and promoted children, it is important to adjust for these differences. In other words, investigating the effects of kindergartenretention involves a methodological challenge. In this dissertation, all techniques used to adjust for confounding make use of the propensity score. This is the probability to be treated (i.e., retained), given pre-treatment differences. In the first two studies, we matched kindergartenrepeaters on the basis of their propensity score with two groups: age-mates who were continuously promoted and age-mates who were retained in first grade instead. In the third and fourth study, we dealt with confounding by means of weighting by (the inverse of) the propensity score. In the fourth study, we applied a more advanced technique (i.e., marginal structural models) in which confounding and the resulting weights were allowed to be time-varying.
The results indicate that kindergarten repeaters would achieve better for mathematics, throughout their entire primary school career, if they were continuously promoted instead. However, social promotion does not seem to be the best alternative. First, when kindergarten repeaters are promoted to first grade anyway, they have a high risk of being retained in first grade instead and to achieve even lower in the long term. The relative advantage of being retained in kindergarten versus first grade matters most for relatively younger and initially rather higher achieving at-risk children. Second, we find that if at-risk children are promoted instead, several domains of their psychosocial development are harmed (e.g., wellbeing, peer relations, self-confidence, independent behavior, asocial behavior, hyperactivity, aggression).
In sum, the results of this dissertation indicate that both retention and promotion have important consequences for children at risk to be retained in kindergarten. We argue to provide additional support for at-risk children who are promoted, with special attention for their non-cognitive skills. Also, we hope to encourage the field to bring relevant structures, rules and beliefs of the educational system to the surface. Future research might be of use to map out the relevant grammar of schooling in a grade retention policy. We argue to reveal and address the contextual factors that prevent education to adapt to the great diversity of students, thereby safeguarding equal educational opportunities for all children.
Date:1 Oct 2010 → 25 Mar 2015
Keywords:- educational effectiveness, - grade retention, - school readiness
Disciplines:Education curriculum, Education systems, General pedagogical and educational sciences, Specialist studies in education, Other pedagogical and educational sciences
Project type:PhD project