Comparative study of performance between grade repetition children and non- grade repetition children

Abstract

Introduction: The Spanish Educational System proposes repetition as a leveling mechanismof thereal performance of thescholarand theiracademiclevel. Although the negativeconsequences of repetition in theshort,mediumand long termhave been shown to outweigh the benefits, the possibility of using this mechanism has made it the OECD country with the highest rate of repeaters. With this as a starting point, the question is if the repetition is fulfilling the aim for which it was created. Research objective: Grade repetition children and non-grade repetition children performance comparation. Method: To achieve this aim, were analyzed 25,245 responses of fourth grade students of Primary Education to the test “Evaluación General de Diagnóstico” of 2009. The methodological strategy used is mean differenceanalysis, using the Welch testand the HJ-Biplot. Results: 6.83% of the sample are repeaters. All study competencies (Linguistic communication, Mathematics, Interaction with the physical and Social world and citizens) correlate positively, the strongest correlation is between the physical and Social world and linguistics (.68) and between the physical and Social world and citizen (.68), and the weakest correlation between citizen and linguistics (.57). Non-grade repetition students obtain higher average scores in all the competences and these differences are significant (p-value smaller than .001) in the Welch test. Conclusion: in most cases, Repetition does not serve to improve performance. Discussion: repetition generates inequality for children in society and that it is not a useful mechanism, it is necessary to carry out other types of interventionsto improvethe performance of students who are susceptible to repeat.