More kids are repeating a grade. Is it good for them?

HARRISBURG, Pa. — As Braylon Price remembers it, he struggled with pretty much everything the first full school year of the pandemic. He went back to in-person school for the first full academic year of the pandemic but it was “wishy-washy,” his mother said. “Even with peers, some of them were like, ‘Wait, shouldn’t you be in third grade?’ And he’s just like, ‘Well, I didn’t go to school because of COVID,’” she said. Do what your kid needs to do.’” Ultimately, there shouldn’t be just two options of repeating a grade or going on to the next, said Alex Lamb, who has been looking at research on grade retention as part of her work with the Center for Education, Policy Analysis, Research and Evaluation at the University of Connecticut to help advise school districts. “A great option is letting students move on, and then introducing some of these supports that are research-backed, that are effective and that allow for academic and social-emotional growth of students and then communities.” In Pennsylvania’s Fox Chapel Area School District, two students were retained at the behest of educators, while eight families decided their students would repeat a grade.