RT Journal Article
T1 The influence of grade retention on students' competences in Spain
A1 López-Agudo, Luis Alejandro
A1 Ladrón de Guevara Rodríguez, María
A1 Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, Óscar David
K1 Enseñanza superior - España
K1 Estadística matemática
K1 Econometría
K1 Economía - Metodología
AB Grade retention is at the core of the education debate in Spain, to the extent that its impact on students' competences has not been assessed beyond correlation. Because of that, in the present study, we analyse the influence of grade retention on students' competences, using more than 146,000 students from 6 PISA cycles (2003–2018) and an instrumental variable approach, in order to approach a causal influence. Our results show that repeating a grade in Spain seems to reduce students' competences between 1.5 and 1.7 standard deviations. Based on these results, we conclude that the Spanish educational authorities should find an alternative to grade retention, in order to prevent students from attaining a lower competence level due to repetition.
PB Wiley
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32896
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32896
LA eng
NO Lopez-Agudo, L. A., de Guevara Rodríguez, M. L., & Marcenaro-Gutierrez, O. D. (2024). The influence of grade retention on students' competences in Spain. European Journal of Education, 00, e12736. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12736
NO Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. Programa de Doctorado en Economía y Empresa of the Universidad de Malaga; Ministerio de Universidades; Fundación Ramón Areces; Plan Propio de la Universidad de Málaga; European Regional Development Fund; Andalusian Regional Government; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 24 ene 2026