Retention Study: Development of a Policy for South Central Community Unit School District #401

This field experience investigated the opinions of administrators and current educational practices in regard to student retention in K-8 school buildings located within the Illinois Educational Service Center #17. The investigation was accomplished by conducting a survey of building administrators in the region. The results of the survey indicated that a majority of the administrators responding to the survey do not agree with the practice of retaining students. The results also show that more boys than girls are retained and that only about half of the schools have written policies in regard to retention. Another fact that emerged was that less than half of the schools surveyed conducted any type of follow-up study on the students who were retained. In addition, a review of literature and research associated with student retention was conducted. The majority of research indicated that retention does not achieve that goal of helping a student who did not meet standards for promotion. The results of the study were used to develop a retention policy for the South Central Community Unit School District #401. The policy is included as part of the study