January/February 1999

Here is a list of other articles and web sites related to retention. We will be modifying and adding to the list on a regular basis. If you would like to make suggestions for additions to this list, please send email to web@edletter.org.

• Escalating Kindergarten Curriculum
  An article by Lorrie A. Shepard and Mary Lee Smith. This article discusses kindergarten retention and the alternatives to retention.

• The Challenges of Assessing Young Children Appropriately
  An article by Lorrie Shepard, in which she argues that, given the history of excessive testing of young children, assessment advocates must demonstrate the usefulness of assessment and ensure that abuses will not recur.

• Student Retention: Is It Effective?
  An abstract of an article by Deneen M. Walters and Sherry B. Borgers.

• How School District Policy Influences Grade Level Retention in Elementary Schools.
  An abstract of an article by Mahna T. Schwager, and others.

• Chicago Panel on School Policy
  The Panel, a 16-year-old non-profit organization advocating for quality education in the Chicago Public Schools, recently issued a review of the district's new retention policy.

• Success For All
  An intervention program for low-achieving schools, that strives to eliminate retention as a matter of policy.