Each spring many thousands of children across the country receive the same dark message: they are failures. These youngsters are to be held back, retained, repeat a grade – all synonyms for failing. According to one national source (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2000: 299), 8% of second graders in 1999 were a year behind as a result of kindergarten or first grade retention. Applied to the roughly 7.2 million kindergartners and first graders in fall 1997 (U.S. Department of Education 2000a: 58), an 8% retention rate translates into well over a half million children. Academic difficulties during the early elementary years tend to persist (e.g., Entwisle and Alexander 1989; 1993), so the problems signaled by (and perhaps aggravated by) this setback likely will cast a very long shadow. With so many children involved, this is a matter of grave concern.

The decision to hold children back implies they have fallen short and are not yet ready for work at the next grade level. Unlike many other educational decisions, this one is highly public. The pupil's classmates go on, but the retained child must start over, with new classmates, most of whom are younger, smaller, and brighter. The new teacher knows the child is repeating; so do the new classmates. Furthermore, the judgment of failure is almost never reversed. Most children who repeat a grade will be “off-time” for the rest of their time in school.