A Think Twice Review of:

Getting Farther Ahead by Staying Behind: A Second-Year Evaluation of Florida's Policy to End Social Promotion (2006)

Think Twice - Oct 10, 2006

Publisher/Think Tank - Manhattan Institute

Author(s) -

This report concludes that Florida's policy of retaining third-grade students based on their scores on a standardized reading test has helped them to improve their reading.

Reviewer(s) - Derek Briggs, University of Colorado at Boulder

In this review, Briggs points out that though the findings in the report are suggestive and merit further investigation, it contains some principal shortcomings which undermine the validity of the conclusions drawn. Among the shortcomings is the fact that the authors are unable to isolate the effect of repeating the same grade from the effects of attending summer school and receiving intensive reading instruction which are mandatory parts of Florida's retention policy.