Research Paper on:
Viability of Grade Retention

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
class. In many circumstances, children and their parents do not like the R word. That is, they do not like the idea of retention. In fact, because there is such  opposition to allowing students to repeat a grade, many are pushed through and promoted anyway, even before they are ready to go on. Sometimes, teachers merely want to get rid  of the problem and so they find a way to pass the child to the next level, even though he or she is not ready for more challenging work. Social  promotion is what this method is called. Of course, some teachers and administrators believe in social promotion not just to "get rid of" a problem student, but because they believe  it is best for the child. They believe that the ridicule that comes with retention is not worth the benefit. However, social promotion puts a child at risk for school  failure. Indeed, promoting students to the new grade before they have mastered necessary skills is not an effective solution to the problem of struggling students ("Beyond," 1999). While  many parents have argued against retention, there is a new trend that seems to support it. Some parents now realize that the use of voluntary retention is a way to  help a failing child succeed (Perry, 1999). The trend is really based on anecdotal evidence and has not been measured, but today, it does seem that some parents use retention  as a school management tool (1999). It is quite tempting, particularly when a parent has a child who repeatedly fails tests, struggles with the material they are given, and is  tutored but never seems to learn. If the child is tested and is not deemed learning disabled, and has an average IQ, it may in fact make sense to give