There's also evidence that poor, Black and Hispanic students are held back more, though the South Carolina data provided to The Post and Courier didn't include a demographic breakdown.
"I don't think there's any evidence, that I know, that holding kids back in third grade has a positive effect on their long-run outcomes," Brian Jacob, an education policy professor at the University of Michigan who studies retention, said.
That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad policy. Retention may help schools more broadly by giving officials a "stick" to ensure schools are giving students the supports they need, Jacob added.
"It really is hard to make sense of some of it," he said.
