Effect of retention in elementary grades on transition to middle school.

The authors investigated the effects of retention in grades 1 to 5 on students' reading and math achievement, teacher-rated engagement, and student-reported school belonging in middle school. From a multiethnic sample (N=784) of children who scored below the median on a test of literacy in grade 1, an average of 75 students subsequently retained in grades 1 to 5 were matched with an average of 299 continuously promoted students on the basis of propensity to be retained in the elementary grades. A total of 20 imputed datasets were analyzed, all of which showed good balance across the 67 baseline covariates used to calculate propensity scores.