Is Teacher–Student and Student–Principal Racial/Ethnic Matching Related to Elementary School Grade Retention?

Oct 15, 2026

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Study of elementary grade retention uses Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (2010–2011) data to assess retention rates and associated student-, teacher-, and school-level factors. Matched student–teacher and student–principal information supports within-student comparisons to test whether same race/ethnicity lowers the probability of retention. Results show no evidence that racial/ethnic matching between students and teachers or principals reduces grade retention for Black, Latinx, or White students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Table of Contents

Is Teacher–Student and Student–Principal Racial/Ethnic Matching Related to Elementary School Grade Retention?

Research question and data source

Analytical approach and comparisons

Findings and policy implications

AERA Open January-December 2022, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 1–20 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584211067534 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2022. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Is Teacher–Student and Student–Principal Racial/Ethnic Matching Related to Elementary School Grade Retention? Christopher Redding University of Florida This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 2010–2011 to better understand the rates of grade retention during elementary school and the factors associated with this grade retention. Using matched student–teacher and student–principal data, I examine the student-, teacher-, and school-level factors associated with a student’s probability of being retained. I then apply within-student comparisons to examine the extent to which students with a teacher or principal of the same race/ethnicity had a lower probability of being retained. No evidence of a relationship is found between student–teacher and student–principal racial/ethnic matching and reduced grade retention for Black, Latinx, or White students. Keywords: grade retention, race/ethnicity matching, educational policy Despite grade retention rates decreasing over the past couple of decades (Warren et al., 2014), the practice remains controversial, given the persistence of racial/ethnic disparities in grade retention (Frey, 2005; Greene & Winters, 2009; Warren et al., 2014), the unclear benefits of retention (Allen et al., 2009; Goos et al., 2021), the increasing prevalence of state-level mandatory retention policies (Weyer, 2019; Workman, 2014), and the stronger evidence base of early reading interventions (Gersten et al., 2009; Wanzek & Vaughn, 2007) . Data from the Current Population Survey from 1995 to 2010 point to stark racial disparities in grade retention rates, with Black students retained at almost twice the rate of White students (3.8% vs. 2.0%), with 2.8% of Latino/a students retained annually (Warren et al., 2014) . Under Florida’s mandatory retention policy, Greene and Winters (2009) report that students who identify as Black were 4% more likely to be retained than White students, even when controlling for academic achievement and other background characteristics. Students who identify as Latino/a were 9% more likely to be retained than White students. Black and Latino/a students’ higher retention rates have generally been attributed to a number of structural risk factors for grade retention, including academic achievement, student health, disability status, age for grade, socioeconomic status (SES), and language spoken at home (Alexander et al., 2001; Jimerson et al., 1997; Xia & Kirby, 2009) . Recent meta-analytic evidence of rigorous studies indicates that, on average, grade retention is associated with neither an academic benefit nor harm for students (Goos et al., 2021) . Yet there is notable variation in the relationship between grade retention and student achievement based whether or not the retention decision was mandated by a district or state policy, when in school a student was retained, and whether or not retention was accompanied by remedial supports. Researchers have found evidence that Florida’s third grade mandatory reading retention policy has a positive effect on reading achievement, which persist through tenth grade (Greene & Winters, 2007; Schwerdt et al., 2017; Winters & Greene, 2012) . In Chicago, mandatory retention resulted in small short-term effects on student achievement for third but not sixth graders who were retained (B. A. Jacob & Lefgren, 2004) . Other quasi-experimental studies have generally shown a null or slightly negative relationship between grade retention and student achievement (Gottfried, 2012; G. Hong & Raudenbush, 2005; Y. Hong & Hong, 2021; Hwang & Cappella, 2018) . Even if students do in fact receive more d

FAQs

What is the main finding regarding racial/ethnic matching and grade retention?

No evidence is found that teacher–student or student–principal racial/ethnic matching reduces grade retention for Black, Latinx, or White students.

Oct 15, 2026

6

0

Uploaded by Adam