Between 1995 and 2004, the percentage of youth ages 16–19 who had ever been retained decreased; high school dropouts were more likely than high school completers to have been retained in a grade at some point in their school career.

Students may be retained in a grade for a number of reasons including if they are judged not to have the academic or social skills to advance to the next grade. This indicator examines the grade retention rates for youth ages 16–19 between 1995 and 2004.

The total percentage of youth ages 16–19 in 2004 who had ever been retained during their school career was smaller than the percentage in 1995 (see table 25-1). The decrease in retention varied by the youth’s current enrollment status: the decrease was particularly pronounced among youth who were enrolled in high school (decreasing from 20 percent of enrolled youth in 1995 to 12 percent of enrolled youth in 2004) and among youth who had dropped out of high school (decreasing from 34 percent of dropouts in 1995 to 21 percent of dropouts in 2004). The percentage of youth who had been retained in kindergarten through grade 5 decreased from 11 percent of youth in 1995 to 5 percent of youth in 2004, while the percentage retained in grades 6–12 was not measurably different between the two years (7 percent in 1995 and 5 percent in 2004). Youth were more likely to have been retained in grades K–5 than in grades 6–12 in 1995, but in 1999 and 2004, there were no measurable differences by grade level.

Youth who had dropped out of high school in each of the years observed were more likely to have ever been retained than youth who were enrolled in high school or youth who had completed high school. In 2004, for example, 21 percent of youth who had dropped out had ever been retained, compared with 12 percent of those still enrolled and 4 percent of high school completers. Furthermore, of those youth that had dropped out of school, a greater percentage had been retained in grades 6–12 (17 percent) than in grades K–5 (10 percent).

In addition to variation by enrollment status, the percentage of youth who had ever been retained varied by sex, race/ethnicity, and family income in 2004. For example, in 2004, a greater percentage of males than females (13 vs. 6 percent) and of Blacks than Whites (16 vs. 8 percent) had ever been retained. Youth whose families were in the lowest income quarter were also more likely to have been retained than youth whose families were in the middle or highest income quarters.