> I'd be more interested if we were also presented with the alternative: how do students who didn't meet whatever minimal standards for grade advancement but we

> I'd be more interested if we were also presented with the alternative: how do students who didn't meet whatever minimal standards for grade advancement but were advanced anyway (and thus could have been held back a year, but were not) perform? From [retention]: That is, the groups of non-promoted/retained students scored .15 to .26 standard deviation units lower than the promoted comparison groups on the various outcome measures. So it does sound like the comparison was between two groups of students that didn't meet standards. This does make me wonder how large the opposite effect is... I had the chance as a kid to take higher level math classes at my school, but was so intimidated by the thought of not being with my peers (since Kindergarten.. small school) that I refused. [retention]: http://intranet.niacc.edu/pres_copy(1)/ILC/The_Retention_Debate.pdf http://intranet.niacc.edu/pres_copy(1)/ILC/The_Retention_Deb...