A policy analysis of Nevada\u27s middle school retention legislation

In 1997, the Nevada State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 376 permitting the State Board of Education to adopt credit requirements that students must meet prior to being promoted from eighth grade to high school. A resulting State Board of Education regulation requires that a student earn one-and-one-half credits in language and one-and-one-half credits in mathematics during seventh and eighth grades to merit promotion to high school; While much attention has been given to the issue of retention and social promotion in large urban school districts such as Chicago and New York City, little investigation has been directed to smaller, rural school districts. This study investigates the effect that AB376 and the ensuing regulation have had upon school district policies, programs, instructional practices, and retention rates in Nevada\u27s rural school districts. Through interviews with public officials and site administrators of Nevada\u27s school districts, it seeks to identify the motivation and intended consequences of the legislation, determine how the regulation has been implemented in Nevada schools, and analyze the intended and unintended consequences of the legislation that have emerged to determine whether intent and actual impact agree