K-3rd Grade Retention Costs State Millions
In the 2008-09 school year, North Carolina spent more than $167 million dollars retaining children in kindergarten through third grade.
While the number of children held back in grades K to 3 had been gradually decreasing in the state, it’s leveled off at about 4% –a number that is still too high according to the research and costs the state millions of dollars.
Among the ways cited by education personnel to reduce retention is to start early with intervention. FirstSchool, the author of the report, is PreK through 3rd grade initative. FirstSchool has made the Powerpoint presentation available as a template for other states and organizations to use. It’s available on their homepage.
The report, which was published in 2010, is an update of 2002 data.
