View Content #26414

From https://hechingerreport.org/immigrants-learned-english-in-half-the-time-when-they-were-held-back-in-third-grade/

Immigrants learned English in half the time when they were held back in third grade
Florida study tracked more than 40,000 English language learners over a decade
by Jill Barshay
January 28, 2019

It’s easy to argue about [the] extensive and muddy body of research [on grade school retention]. But now a pair of researchers has found that one particular group of students might especially benefit from being held back in third grade: immigrants.

In a large scale study of 40,000 English language learners in Florida, those who were held back in third grade learned English substantially faster and took more demanding classes in subsequent years. The retained kids became proficient in English in just one year, on average, half the time of their peers who were directly promoted to fourth grade.

Read the full article at https://hechingerreport.org/immigrants-learned-english-in-half-the-time-when-they-were-held-back-in-third-grade/

The study is available at https://www.nber.org/papers/w25472