Yes. Although it sometimes takes less clear-cut forms than "you fail this course, therefore we make you repeat the entire grade." my mother, for instance, taug

Yes. Although it sometimes takes less clear-cut forms than "you fail this course, therefore we make you repeat the entire grade." my mother, for instance, taught at a school (this was ~2000-2006) that kept students perpetually in 8th grade. The school system identified students who were likely to drop out of high school based on grades and behavior and kept them from entering high school to prevent them from depressing high school dropout rates. They would remain in 8th grade until they turned 16 and dropped out. I was in high school in the 90's, and my classmates frequently failed and had to repeat classes. This usually didn't result in having to repeat an entire grade though, since our schedules were very personalized and classes could be repeated the next year or semester without interfering with the rest of the schedule.