Urban Student Retention

Certain parental practices can hinder a child’s academic and behavioral growth. Parents residing in poverty are less likely to participate in in academically supportive *events with their children. From my personal experience, children of lower class parents are not given many choices and are often not offered many chances to be creative or think critically, due to their parents asserting more direct authority over them. I believe this aspect draws a direct line to and serves as the reason for child’s academic dysfunctions or behavior incapacities. There are programs such as education centers and summer programs, but these are utilized by middle class youth and do little for lower class youth.

Sociologists and psychologists have studied and documented high school dropout rate for many decades. Their focus has been put on statistics of different races/ethnicities, age groups and gender as well as underlying factors of why people drop out. Comparing the dropout statistics of different races is a common theme amongst many sociologists’ studies. The extent of their research addresses many significant aspects of high school drop out but fail to shed light on the differences within races between the two genders.

In order to understand why students from lower income families struggle, it would be important to begin at the beginning. Low birth weight affects a child’s cognitive development and is something that is predominant in minority families. This could stem from a lack of prenatal care, poor nutrition, or possible substance abuse. Whatever the cause, low birth weight affects student achievement. Lead poisoning is also a

Students from racialized backgrounds face robust barriers to their success in high schools. While high school graduation rates are raising as a whole, students from racialized background are graduating high school less that their peers of the dominant racial group. These students have many different variables that limit their educational outcomes. “While education is the institution used in America to distribute social status and economic power, and facilitate how society functions, it has not been accepted or provided equal opportunity to all members of society.”(Boyd, Gordon, Iwamoto, Potts, Ward, 2009)

Students who were retained in elementary school hold a low high school graduation rate because of it. Retention can affect a students education up until college, without them knowing (Andrew, 2014). Despite the negative outcomes, most teachers retain students because they think it is for their academic or social benefit. However, retaining students held the opposite affect; students who were retained did not benefit. They could have used exposure to the next environment as an achievement gain while benefiting from next level education strategies, achieving the same outcomes as their peers. Keeping children in age appropriate classrooms hold higher benefits than retention, by avoiding students re-learning the same curriculum again when schools do not have the proper funding to adequately reach the needs of struggling students (Hong & Yu, 2007). Promoting students to the next grade exposes them to learning strategies that might reach their need that could not be met in the previous grade. Grade retention as an education intervention plan holds no significant positive affects to student

The authors in this article looked at many factors that lead to retention in the United Sates. The authors look at environmental factors and socioeconomic factors that have caused high retention rates in our schools. These authors broke down the rates by looking to see if boys or girls are more prone to being retained more. They broke the data down by race and location. It was described that students from low income homes have a higher chance to produce to retention. It was also discussed that policy changes at the local, state and national level can have an effect on these numbers. The article also mentions how a student’s persistence towards self-empowerment and the completion of their academic goals was a strong factor according to the article.

Dropping out of high school is associated with multiple factors that gradually build onto an individual. In the “Income Inequality, Social Mobility and the Decision to Drop Out of High School” study, Kearney and Levine discussed that the socioeconomic perspective of a person is one that plays a critical role in his/her perspective in continuing an education. Regions with a greater difference in income inequality often come with less social mobility. High school students’ choice to drop out is often linked with a long-term exposure to low socioeconomic circumstance that demotivated their prospect toward advancement and failure to recognize the benefits

Research has shown that there are many perceptions amongst faculty and students, especially amongst minority students as to what factors are contributing to drop-outs in higher education and what should be done to retain minority students. Some have expressed economic disadvantages to family history as to why minorities have the highest rate of discontinuing college after their freshman/ first year of college. Contrary to research conducted within the last decade, even though in comparison to high school diplomas, college degrees have taken a back seat in spite of the many efforts of institutions, faculty, and stakeholders.

There have been many studies performed in recent years over the effects of retainment. The reasoning behind why a student is being retained can be a big deciding factor on whether it will end with success or not. When a child is behind their peers because of age or numerous absences, retainment is an option for them. At an older level, kids have a higher rate of success than those who have been retained (Davis School District, 2011). When repeating a grade, they can have success the next year, and can gain more confidence. However, retainment works best for students when at a young, lower elementary age.

Many colleges and universities throughout the United States and several other countries face a common problem. Student retention is a growing problem across the nation for all ethnic groups and all ages. Each individual who chooses to drop out of school has their own personal reasons as to why they do. However, many drops out can be completely avoided. When students drop out they are not clearly thinking about how it’s going to affect their future, the future of their children and even grandchildren. Although there are several reasons as to why students drop out of school, we will be exploring a few as it relates to why student retention is a growing problem.

Grade retention has been a common practice in the United States for many years now, and has been gradually increasing over time. Grade retention is also known as being held back or flunking, it is a custom that is done in many schools when a student is not performing well academically. Students are retained for many reasons, for example, Bowman (2005) mention that “the belief that an extra year of school will produce successful academic outcomes, failure to meet criteria for promotion” (p.42), the maturity level of the student and lastly for nonattendance (Bowman, 2005). But does grade retention promote academic performance? To the average person, one would believe that yes, grade retention does promote academic performance but one will see that this is actually quite the opposite. Granting, grade retention was created to be a solution for underperforming students but its effectiveness was deemed unsatisfactory and studies have shown that retaining students does not increase their academic performance (Bowman, 2005).

     Grade retention, better known as “staying back”, “being held back” or “repeating”, has been the topic of much debate within the educational system. The controversy which surrounds this long-standing issue has been reinforced by such topics as the recent endorsement of academic standards. Research indicates that “the rate of retention has increased by approximately 40% in the last 20 years with as many as 15% of all American students held back each year and 30-50% held back at least once before ninth grade” (Dawson, 1998). These discouraging statistics pose copious problems within a school system. The difficulties can be appreciated at the organizational level, as well as inside the classroom and, most

As stated in the Education and Socioeconomic Status article “research indicates that children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups”. In fact, low social class families receive the most poorly education because of their economic status. “The school systems in low-SES communities are often underresourced, negatively affecting students’ academic progress (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008)” (American Psychology Association), this research findings demonstrates the inequality on education between social class families. Furthermore, low income families can’t afford to provide their children a better or needed education for their children. The American Psychology Association, states that “families from low-SES communities are less likely to have the financial resources or time availability to provide children with academic support. As a result of these families’ financial situation, they tend to always stay in the low social class stage because of their economical situations. Parents are unable to provide their children with the right education and when they graduate from High School it’s unlikely for them to go to college because of the limit support for their parents. Because of this families continue to be in the lower-class level. Therefore, social class drastically impacts low income families

Poverty affects a family in a number of ways, and a large portion of a child’s life that is directly affected by poverty is the child’s education. Education starts at home, and it is heavily researched and proven that poverty decreases a child’s preparation for school. Poverty increases risk factors and decreases opportunities. Low-income households often have problems with parental consistency, supervision, and support both within their family microsystem and the child’s mesosystem and exosystem. Children from low-income families often have issues with poor health, attentiveness, motivation, and insecurities. All of these impact the child’s social skills and readiness to attend school and

The environment a child in poverty lives in is a huge factor in that may affect their academic success. Children from low income families tend to live in low-income neighborhoods that are often associated with high crime rates, high concentration, and few opportunities for academic socialization (Engle, Patrice, and Black 5). These neighborhoods have health risks,