TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jacob,Brian
AU  - Lefgren,Lars
TI  - The Effect of Grade Retention on High School Completion
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13514
PY  - 2007
Y2  - October 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13514
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13514.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Brian Jacob
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-615-6994
Fax: NA
E-Mail: bajacob@umich.edu

Lars Lefgren
Department of Economics
Brigham Young University
130 Faculty Office Bulding
Provo, UT 84602-2363
Tel: (801) 422-5169
E-Mail: l-lefgren@byu.edu
AB  - Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade in order to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically.  This practice is highly controversial, with many researchers claiming that it leads to higher dropout rates although selection issues have complicated previous analyses.  In this paper, we use a regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of grade retention on high school completion.  We find that grade retention leads to a modest increase in the probability of dropping out for older students, but has no significant effect on younger students.
ER  -