EFFECTS OF RETENTION ON READING ACHIEVEMENT AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS (NON-PROMOTION, SOCIAL PROMOTION, GRADE RETENTION)

SHIRL EDWARD GILBERT, Purdue University

Abstract

This study sought to determine if retention was a viable and educationally sound intervention strategy for improving reading achievement. Seventeen hundred and eighty-two (1782) subjects were selected from grades 4 through 8 for the study. The subjects were assigned to one of three treatment groups--retained, socially promoted, or academically promoted. The data for this study consisted of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (Forms 7 and 8) pre- and posttest comprehensive reading scores for each student involved in the sample. A 3 x 5 x 2 x 5 Factorial Analysis of Covariance design, utilizing the Biomedical Program BMDP2V and ANOVA, was used to determine if significant differences existed in the adjusted mean scores of the three treatment groups, over the five years, between the sexes, and over the five grades. The covariate in every instance was the pretest score for that particular year which was statistically removed to provide more valid comparisons. The findings of this research indicated that: (1) little difference existed between the reading achievement of students socially promoted and those retained; (2) grade was always significant; (3) sex of the subjects was not a significant variable; (4) the year in which the test was given did make a difference; (5) sex by treatment interactions were not significant; and (6) grade by treatment and year by treatment interactions were not significant for the individual years, but showed mixed results for the combined five years of the study. These results suggest that social promotion is no more valuable than retention in improving reading achievement and that the usefulness of retention, as a group intervention strategy, is questionable for improving the reading achievement of poor urban black youngsters. Many factors outside the parameters of this study influenced its inconclusive results as well as accounted for practical experience that indicates retention is effective for improving the reading achievement of some students on an individual basis.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Education

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