Anxiety of Grade Retention

The possibility of grade retention has been shown to be an extreme stressor for children at risk. In one study of childhood fears performed in the 1980s, the top three fears for sixth graders were 1) loss of a parent, 2) going blind, 3) being retained. After two decades of increasing retention practices, a repeat of the study in 2001 found that grade retention was the single greatest fear, higher than loss of a parent or going blind.