The Impact of Grade Retention on the Self-Esteem and Academic Performance of the Students

This mixed method study examines the impact of grade retention on the academic performance and self-esteem of the students. For the quantitative part, the students of grade four in public schools of Rawalpindi city were taken as the study sample. Initially, this sample was divided into two main groups, i.e. identified poor performers and the normal group of students. After annual examinations, the former group was further divided in two subgroups on the basis of results, i.e. Repeaters Sample and Identified Poor but Promoted Sample. A multiphase panel study was designed to collect quantitative data. The data related to academic performance was collected by locally developed tests of the five subjects taught in grade four of the public schools of the Punjab. The self-esteem of the students was measured through Urdu translation of Beck Youth Inventory for Self-Concept of Children (BSCI-Y). A series of analysis were performed with quantitative data to analyze the variations in academic performance and self-esteem of all the three groups. A group of experienced school teachers teaching at primary level in public schools of Rawalpindi city were selected as the key informants of qualitative aspect of the study. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with participant teachers. The first part of the interview was nested in the study, while the second part was triangulated with quantitative findings in order to verify and strengthen the results. The two sets of data were collected concurrently, whereas the triangulation of both types was carried out after the completion of the analysis stage. The findings of the study suggested that there was significant positive impact of grade retention on the academic performance of the repeaters, whereas the impact on self-esteem was found considerably negative. However, the academic performance of the repeaters was not significantly greater than those of the identified poor but promoted group and normal group.