As schools plan for alternatives to retention and social promotion, there are exciting possibilities ahead. By keeping abreast of the research on remedial and preventive programs, educators can offer students a variety of tested ideas that can build academic and social skills. Additionally, as schools collect and disseminate statistics on the usefulness of various alternatives, more effective help can be offered to students nationwide. Over time, schools will be able to employ a variety of methods for preventing failure and offering targeted help before students become discouraged.

There is no simple answer that meets the needs of each student. However, by modeling a willing effort to help all children reach their greatest potential, we also model our belief that all children can succeed at learning and at life.

In an effort to lend clarity to the retention/promotion debate, we leave readers with the following recommendations:

• Grade retention should be used sparingly and not until other intervention efforts have proved ineffective.
• If used, grade retention should not be a repetition of the same curriculum with the same instructional delivery.
• Measures of intervention should be implemented as soon as a child is identified as being at risk of failure.
• Parents must be involved in intervention efforts, retention decisions, and any subsequent remediation.
• School staff should be made familiar with literature and research on grade retention to facilitate informed decision making.
• Schools should make retention decisions based on multiple forms of data and analysis. In addition, students' developmental level and self-concept should contribute to potential decisions.

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