A Longitudinal Study of Grade Retention - Literature review Example

GRADE RETENTION AND SELF-ESTEEM Affiliation GRADE RETENTION AND SELF-ESTEEM Shane Jimerson and Santa Barbara Ferguson in their article ‘A longitudinal study of grade retention: Academic and behavioral outcomes of retained students through adolescence’ try to examine the effectiveness of early grade retention (Jimerson & Ferguson, 2007). They indicate that the child is retained at the grade level because of the rising emphasis on educational criterions and answerability. With the ever increasing amounts of money used to retain students at the grade level, the researchers seek to learn the cost-benefit analysis of this retention. They also seek to find out whether this grade retention improves or deteriorates the academic accomplishments as well as the socioemotional variations of the child in question. The three important questions that the researchers seek to answer are first, the relationship between grade retention and academic success during the stage of adolescence; second, the relationship between grade retention and aggression during the stage of adolescence and third, the relationship between grade retention and the drop out levels from high school. The populations studied by these two researchers were adolescent students. The first groups of these adolescent students were the ones who had been retained in a transition classroom. The second groups of the students were the ones who had been endorsed for transition room assignment and had been upheld. The third groups of the students were those who were frequently retained in their current grades. The last groups of students were the ones who were habitually promoted from one grade to another. The number of students on whom the study was conducted was a total of one hundred and thirty seven. These students ranged from the ones in kindergarten to the ones in the second grade. Seventy two of these students were closely examined up to their eleventh grade. All the students in the conducted research ailed from the same district in a region whose composition comprised of one thousand people. The students also comprised of both genders, which is the boys and the girls. The study was done by the grouping of these students into four categories. Each category reflected the educational experience of these students as regards to their being retained in their grades. Two of the category groupings comprised of students who had been retained in the kindergarten level, first grade and second grade. The retention was also either through a classroom placement that was transitional or through the early grade retention that was done traditionally in a school. The remaining two groups of students comprised of students who had been commended for grade placement that was transitional and nevertheless they were promoted to the next grade in their education and those students who were frequently promoted as per the laid down schedules. The method used to analyze the academic accomplishments of these students was the national percentile rankings. Under these rankings, the grade point averages of the students were premeditated by the use of the cumulative year-end marks of the seventh to the tenth grade. Useful information on the behaviors of the students was provided by the teachers of those students. The behaviors that were sought most to be analyzed among these retained students were aggression as well as the students’ individual social behaviors. Lastly, the eleventh grade of the students was employed in order to effectively determine their high school status. This was done through the examination of the enrolment records of those students. Under this classification and examination, the student would either be considered to be a dropout or one who is presently registered in the school. This was efficient in determining whether the retention levels of the students led to improved enrolment in a particular school or whether they simply aided in increasing the dropout levels of the students. It was also important so as to determine whether the retained students acquired good behaviors expected of them or they simply became aggressive. The findings of the study were obtained by the use of two models of doing analysis. The first model is the analysis of covariance. This model was put into use so as to achieve accustomed approximations of the means of the population. The second model is the use of two analyses of the obtained statistics. The findings showed that those students who were not retained performed extremely well in their studies as compared to those students who had been retained. The studies also revealed that those students who had been retained showed high levels of aggression traits as compared to those students who had not been retained in their grades. Lastly, the findings indicated that most of the dropout levels in high schools were registered among the students who had been retained. This is unlike the students who had been promoted to the next grade in their studies who recorded no dropouts. The promoted students also recorded greater academic accomplishments as compared to the ones who had been retained. It is frequently argued that retaining poor performing students in their grades promotes academic performance. This argument is however improperly construed and the sentiments expressed in it are not true. A closer examination of the article that has been analyzed above reveals that grade retention of the students is not effective at all in the academic accomplishments of these students. The article has helped us to understand the significant issues revolving around the idea of grade retention of the students. The understanding is made much easier by the outlining of the negative traits associated with grade retention of the students. It has made it clear to use that the only achievements that grade retention has for the concerned students is the increase in the dropout levels, increase in the aggression traits as well as a decline in the academic accomplishments of these students. It can therefore be concluded that grade retention ought to be abolished. Roy Baumeister, Jennifer Campbell, Joachim Krueger and Kathleen Vohs in their article on self-esteem try to learn if high self-esteem is responsible for better academic performance, interpersonal success as well as healthier and happy lifestyles. According to the authors, the emphasis on high self-esteem is on the rise from therapists, teachers and even parents. They all try to improve the self-esteem of their children/students as it is believed that with high self-esteem, there is an expectation of optimistic outcomes. It is this underlying assumption that forced the authors to get to the root of the matter and find out whether it is really true. This study was done through the analysis of the existing literature on self-esteem. 15,059 publications on self-esteem were obtained by the researchers from the database known as PsychINFO. This was between the period of January to October in the year of 2001. From these 15,059 publications, the researchers considered only the ones that had been published. Studies whose aim was to reveal the foundations of self-esteem among individuals were equally excluded from the study. It is worthwhile to note that the researchers relied only on primary data so as to obtain accurate data. Secondary sources were only resorted to if they showed evidence of a meta-analysis. The researchers equally included their own work on self-esteem. The populations for this study were specifically chosen to reflect six issues. These are performance in school; performance in jobs/tasks; interpersonal relations; belligerence and criminal behavior; happiness and sadness and lastly health matters. The findings of the study show that there is no correlation between high self-esteem and good academic performance. On the contrary, they indicate that high self-esteem results from the good performance that a school registers. The study also indicates that the determinations by parents, teachers and therapists to improve the self-esteem of the students are counterproductive. This is due to the fact that these determinations have not been revealed to advance the educational performance of the pupils in question. The study also indicates that job satisfaction among the adults is the one that boosts their self-esteem. This is unlike the common belief that self-esteem is the one that leads to job satisfaction and performance among the adults. The only correlation realized between high self-esteem and job performance is that the former facilitates the persistence that an individual can have to perform better in their job especially after a failure has been recorded. The study also indicates that high self-esteem does not envisage the eminence and period of relationships that a person is likely to have. With leadership, it is shown that high self-esteem may have an effect on the leadership skills that an individual possesses but contrary to majority belief, these skills do not stem unswervingly from the high self-esteem. The research study however indicates that high self-esteem leads to greater happiness in an individual. The authors reveal that depression is a cause of low self-esteem. Nonetheless, it is with this high self-esteem that will make children to experiment with drugs and alcohol, engaging in pre-marital sex as well as smoking. All these vices are responsible for unhealthier lifestyles. It has often been argued that promoting self-esteem promotes improved academic progress. An examination of this article reveals that this is partly true and partly false. The assumption is partly true as the students will have the persistence to work even harder after failing in their studies. It is also partly false as the article has revealed that high self-esteem can make the children to experiment with vices like smoking, drinking alcohol and engaging in pre-marital sex. All these vices will only help to deteriorate the academic performance of the concerned students. This therefore shows that there are no hard and fast rules in determining whether high self-esteem directly leads to high academic performance. Reference Jimerson, S. R., & Ferguson, P. (2007). A longitudinal study of grade retention: Academic and behavioral outcomes of retained students through adolescence. School Psychology Quarterly, 22(3), p.314-339. Read More