Q: Our 10-year-old has always struggled along in school, especially in math. She gets A's in spelling and reads well but gets D's or an occasional C in math. At a recent conference her teacher said he could not recommend that she be held back in fourth grade, but that it could be beneficial for her. Perhaps, he said, we should leave it up to our daughter to decide. He chose to repeat sixth grade and thinks it was the best decision he ever made. A friend of ours said that students should almost never be held back because of the negative social and emotional affects on them. She advised us to provide tutoring for our daughter rather than retaining her. What do you think?

A: Generally speaking, results of research studies show few long term benefits for retention. Emphasis should be placed on the development of quality remedial programs instead. However, retention may be appropriate for some children depending on the facts of the individual case.

I once recommended retention for a boy who moved into our district during the summer and was placed in second grade based on his age and completion of first grade the year before. Poor adjustment characterized by shyness and low academic skills prompted a referral for testing. This was a boy who was immature, small for his age and tested below average in all subject areas. On the playground he had made friends with some of the first graders and his parents specifically requested that he be allowed to repeat first grade. The teachers favored the idea, too, so we went ahead with it. Almost overnight he changed from a shy, withdrawn boy to an energetic, vocal one who did well academically for at least the next three years (at which time I left the district).

My bias as an educator is toward individualization of education, so I think asking a child to repeat a whole grade is inappropriate (with rare exceptions). It just doesn't fit with what I know about child development. Teachers should pretest, teach and posttest in every subject throughout the school year in order to focus their teaching efforts on what each child doesn't know or hasn't yet mastered.

Consider the fact that one child can have first grade level reading skills and third grade level math skills (or any other number of variations on that theme). Does that make him or her a second grader just because that's the average of the two skill levels? In my view, no.

Having said that, I think that some children who begin public schooling early (kindergarten at age 4), sometimes benefit greatly from a second kindergarten or first grade year, just to give them social and emotional maturation time, especially if their academic skills are also weak. Your 10-year-old daughter is excelling in some subjects. Why hold her back in those subjects in order to build her skills in math? I agree with your friend who recommended tutorial assistance. Also, request a fifth grade teacher with a reputation for motivating students in math. My son had such a teacher for 4th and 5th grades who completely reversed his attitudes and achievement in math.

Be sure to discuss all of this with your daughter. There may be other considerations of which I am unaware. Also there is a good article on the subject ofretention on the Internet.