The Importance of Reading Difficulties and Family in Teachers' Decisions to Retain Children: A Case Study in Costa Rica

Grade retention in many countries is the de facto remediation policy for children who have academic difficulties in first grade. For example, 14.9 percent of first graders repeated in Costa Rica in 2002. This study describes the relationships among emergent literacy skills, reading skills, and retention in Costa Rica through teacher interviews and student assessments. A strong, negative relationship was found between reading scores and repetition. In addition, the children who were identified as future repeaters at the end of first grade were significantly lower on a subset of emergent literacy skills. When teachers identified specific children as future repeaters and gave their reasons for that judgment, the vast majority cited reading difficulties and perceived lack of family support as important factors. Policy alternatives, including preschool interventions designed to improve emergent literacy skills and parental involvement and thereby prevent repetition, are discussed.