Student Advocacy · Video

Should I Hold My Child Back?

Retention gives a child the same year again. If the instruction was the problem the first time, the second time has the same problem in it.

Dr. Leah Skinner, Ed.D. | Duration 10:34 | Published April 2026

The short answer

Retention repeats the year. It does not change the instruction inside it, which is usually what went wrong. Research on children held back finds worse long-term outcomes — more dropping out, fewer credits earned — not better ones. The alternative is not “do nothing”: it is to change what the child receives rather than how long they receive it. And you can decline retention. In California, you are part of that decision, not a spectator to it.

Key takeaways

Retention changes the calendar, not the teaching

A child who could not learn to read from a method gets the same method for a second year. The extra time only helps if something inside the year is different, and usually nothing is.

The long-term outcomes point the wrong way

A study of retained students in New York City found higher dropout rates, fewer core exams taken and fewer credits earned. Repeating a year is not a neutral pause.

The emotional cost is measurable

Among primary students with dyslexia, roughly a third show depressive symptoms and a quarter show anxiety symptoms. Retention adds a separate and public failure on top of that.

Intervention works, and dose is the variable

Across forty years of studies, targeted reading intervention produces a real but moderate effect — and larger doses produce larger gains. That is the case for intensive specialised instruction rather than an hour a week.

You can say no

In California a parent is part of the retention decision. Ask for it in writing, ask what specifically would be different in the repeated year, and if the answer is “the same, again”, you have your argument.

Chapters

Why repeating the year doesn’t work

The case for retention assumes the child needed more time. For most struggling readers, that is not what they needed.

More of the same is still the same

A school year is roughly a thousand hours of instruction. If a method did not teach a child to decode in a thousand hours, a second thousand hours of it is an expensive way to find that out twice.

The gap is in skills, not in exposure

A child who cannot connect sounds to letters has a specific missing skill. Re-covering the whole curriculum does not target it; it just surrounds it with more content the child can already do.

Standard instruction is built for the average learner

Which is most children, and which is why it mostly works. A dyslexic reader needs explicit, systematic, cumulative teaching that general classroom instruction is not designed to deliver — at any grade level.

And the child knows exactly what happened

Retention is not a quiet administrative adjustment. It is visible to every classmate, and it tells a child something about themselves that is both untrue and very hard to unlearn.

What the research documents

Retained students do worse later, not better. A study of grade retention in New York City schools found that retained students had higher dropout rates, took fewer core exams and earned fewer credits than comparable students who were not held back.Mariano, L. T., Martorell, P. & Berglund, T. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 18(1) — tandfonline.com
Targeted reading intervention works, and the size of the effect depends on the dose. A systematic review of forty years of intervention research for elementary students with or at risk for dyslexia found an overall effect of g = 0.33 — real and moderate — with larger amounts of instruction producing larger gains. That dose relationship is the argument for intensive specialised instruction rather than an hour a week.Hall, C. et al. (2023). Reading Research Quarterly, 58(2), 285–312 — doi.org/10.1002/rrq.477
The emotional load is already high before anyone mentions retention. Among primary school students with dyslexia in one study, 36.5% showed symptoms of depression and 26.3% symptoms of anxiety. Adding a repeated year to that is not a neutral intervention.Feng, W., Chotipanvithayakul, R. & Liu, H. (2024). Australian Journal of Psychology, 76(1) — doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2024.2399114
For children with ADHD, targeted school-based intervention also helps. A systematic review of randomised trials found improvements in core symptoms, academic performance and social skills — again from doing something specific, not from doing the same thing for longer.Yegencik, B., Bell, B. T. & Deniz, E. (2025). Frontiers in Psychology, 16 — frontiersin.org

What “specialized tutoring” actually means

Four things separate clinical intervention from homework help. All four have to be present.

A named, evidence-based programme. Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, Barton or similar — not “we use a multisensory approach”. If nobody can name the programme, there is no sequence to follow.
An instructor trained in it, and supervised. General teaching experience is not training in structured literacy. Ask who trained them, to what level, and who checks that the lessons are delivered as designed.
Enough of it, often enough. This is the part families underestimate and the part the research is clearest about. Two to four sessions a week is a different intervention from one, and the difference shows up in the outcome.
Measurement against a baseline. Testing at the start, progress data along the way, and a willingness to change the approach if the data does not move. Without that, nobody knows whether it is working.

When tutoring is the right move — and when it isn’t

It is the right move when the gap is specific

Reading, spelling or maths is behind while reasoning and oral comprehension are intact. That profile responds to targeted instruction, and targeted instruction is what tutoring is.

It is the right move when retention is the only other offer

If the choice on the table is a repeated year with no change in method, almost anything that changes the method is a better use of twelve months.

It is not enough on its own if the school day is the problem

A child who is lost for six hours a day and supported for three a week is still lost for six hours a day. At some point the placement, not the add-on, is the thing to change.

And it is the wrong first step if nobody has assessed the child

Tutoring that is not aimed at a measured gap is guesswork with a schedule. Start with an assessment, so the instruction targets what is actually broken rather than what is assumed to be.

Saying no in the meeting

Ask the question that decides it. “What specifically will be different about next year?” Not more support in general — which programme, how many minutes, how often, delivered by whom. If the answer is the same teaching again, the case for retention has not been made.
Ask for the recommendation in writing. Including the reasons and the data behind it. A recommendation that has to be written down tends to become more precise.
Put your disagreement in writing too. Short and unemotional. You are creating a record, not winning an argument in the room.
Propose the alternative. “Rather than repeating the year, we would like the reading instruction changed to a structured literacy programme at this frequency, reviewed in twelve weeks.” A specific counter-proposal is much harder to decline than a general objection.
Get your own data if you need leverage. A clinical assessment turns “we disagree” into evidence the team has to consider.

California requires every district to have a policy on retention between second and third grade and between third and fourth. Ask for a copy of yours. Knowing the written policy before the meeting changes the meeting.

Questions parents ask

If I say no to holding my child back, will tutoring really be enough to catch them up?

Often, but not automatically, and the honest answer depends on two things: how big the gap is and how much instruction your child actually gets. Research across forty years of intervention studies finds a real effect, and finds that larger doses produce larger gains — which means an hour a week and four sessions a week are not the same intervention with different price tags. The fair comparison is not tutoring against a perfect outcome. It is tutoring against repeating a year of the teaching that did not work.

How many hours per week, and for how long, before we see results?

Two to four sessions a week is the range where progress tends to become visible rather than theoretical. On timing, the sequence matters more than the date: resistance drops first, then a willingness to attempt unfamiliar words, then accuracy, then fluency, then scores. Most families notice the first two within weeks and the last one over months. Anyone quoting you a fixed number of weeks to grade level is guessing, and you should treat the quote accordingly.

We already tried a tutor and it did not work. Why would this be different?

Because “tutor” covers two completely different services. Homework help supports tonight’s assignment; it assumes the underlying skills are there. If your child cannot decode, more practice on grade-level work practises the gap. The questions that separate the two are specific: which named programme, what training does the instructor have in it, who supervises them, how often does your child get it, and what is being measured. If the previous tutor could not answer those, that is the difference.

Can my child stay in their current school and still close the gap?

Frequently, yes. Many families combine school support with outside intervention and that is enough, particularly when the gap is in one area and the child is otherwise coping. It becomes harder when the child is struggling across most of the day, because three hours a week of the right instruction cannot offset thirty hours of the wrong kind. The signal to watch is whether progress is visible by the first review point. If it is not, the placement itself becomes the question.

The school is strongly pushing retention. How do I say no in the IEP meeting?

Calmly, specifically and in writing. Ask what exactly would be different about the repeated year — which programme, how many minutes, how often, taught by whom. Ask for the recommendation and its reasons in writing. Then put your disagreement in writing and propose the alternative: change the reading instruction rather than repeat the year, and review it in twelve weeks. Ask for your district’s written retention policy too; California requires every district to have one, and reading it beforehand changes the conversation.

What if specialized tutoring still does not work?

Then something is wrong with the fit, and that is information rather than a dead end. The usual causes are dose, programme match, or a second difficulty nobody has assessed — attention, language or maths processing alongside the reading. A good provider will tell you this rather than sell you more of the same, because the progress data makes it visible. If three to six months of consistent instruction has produced no movement in the early signs, the plan should change.

Video Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Welcome to This Explainer. I am so deeply honored to be talking with you today on behalf of Dr. Leah Skinner, Ed.D. She is a certified dyslexia therapist and, crucially, a mother of neurodivergent children herself. Today, we are diving into exactly why specialized tutoring works for learning differences, and we’re going way beyond the standard and, honestly, often heartbreaking practice of grade retention. You know, so often, well-meaning schools will just suggest holding a kid back. And that practice leaves children feeling completely broken and parents feeling totally helpless. But I am here to tell you there is absolutely a better way. We’re going to explore how we can actually support our children’s beautifully unique minds, not by forcing them to just repeat their struggles, but by truly unlocking their brilliance.

0:45 So should you hold your child back? Just picture this for a second. Put yourself in that tense, overly quiet room of an IEP meeting. The fluorescent lights are buzzing slightly overhead. And as a parent, you’ve just got this heavy, terrifying pit in your stomach. The school’s experts sitting right across the table from you have just recommended grade retention. And they often frame it as a gift, right? They’ll say they want to give your child another chance or the gift of time. And sitting in that chair, it feels like it has to be the only option because, well, the professionals are the ones suggesting it. You might even be sitting there feeling this profound sense of failure, just wondering if you could have somehow done more. It’s a situation completely fraught with deep anxiety and an overwhelming pressure to just nod and agree. And I completely understand how suffocating that exact moment is for a loving parent. I really want to validate that anxiety for you right now. Dr. Leah brings over 20 years of clinical experience, plus her own personal journey as a mom.

1:40 And she has this core philosophy that just cuts right through all the noise of those intimidating meetings. Her belief is this. If the instruction did not work the first time, repeating the year does not change the instruction. She brings so much fierce compassion to this topic because she knows exactly how you feel. Think about it. Repeating the exact same broken instruction just with a new calendar taped to the wall simply does not fix a learning difference. It’s a fundamental mismatch. It’s not just a matter of needing another lap around the exact same track. Section one, the illusion of more time.

2:09 Okay, so we really need to unpack why retention feels like the right move, but is actually a complete illusion. Retention is essentially a placement decision, and it’s built on this flawed assumption that a child just needs a little more time and a little more effort rather than a completely different instructional method. But here is the thing. For children with learning differences, the problem is literally never a lack of effort. As a parent, you already know this. You see them trying so incredibly hard, practically working themselves to exhaustion at the kitchen table every single night. The true barrier is that the standard classroom method is a complete mismatch for how their brains actually process information. So expecting a child to just do the exact same nine months all over again, pushing them to try harder at a method their brain just cannot absorb, that’s not an instructional plan. That is just a recipe for heartbreak.

2:58 Standard instruction ends up failing because it basically assumes all brains process information in the exact same way. But a beautiful neurodivergent mind requires very specific keys to unlock its potential. For instance, dyslexia needs systematic phonics to actually break the code of reading. Dyscalculia needs a multisensory math foundation so that numbers finally make sense in space and reality. Dysgraphia requires direct motor planning instruction to literally connect the brain to the hand. And ADHD? It needs carefully built scaffolds that actually fit attention regulation.

3:35 Asking a child to just push through for another nine months without addressing these highly specific neurological needs just creates deeper frustration. It shatters their self-esteem and leads to even more tears over untouched assignments. Section 2. Homework Tutoring vs. Specialized Tutoring. So there is this massive point of confusion for loving families who are just trying to get some help, and it all revolves around the word tutoring. Understanding this distinction is going to be truly life-changing for your child’s academic journey.

4:05 Standard homework tutoring is usually delivered by wonderful, super well-meaning college students or general educators. They sit down, they help your kid get through tonight’s math worksheet, and they help them pass Friday’s spelling test. But ultimately, their variable schedule and approach leave the underlying neurological learning gap completely unchanged. Specialized tutoring, on the other hand, is a true clinical intervention. It is delivered by certified therapists. Its targeted intervention perfectly matched your child’s specific brain gap, and it results in permanent measured progress. Both of these things use the word tutoring, but only one actually rewires how the brain learns. When Dr. Leah says specialized, she literally means applying exact, scientifically-backed methodologies to specific learning profiles. It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. For dyslexia, that means structured literacy programs like Orton-Gillingham or the Wilson Reading System. For Dyscalculia, it demands multisensory math interventions like making math real.

5:03 Dysgraphia needs direct instruction in motor planning and orthographics using programs like the Institute for Excellence in Writing. And ADHD requires highly specific scaffolds for executive function and self-management.

5:16 This is an absolutely crucial takeaway for us. Unless the instructor is extensively trained in the exact evidence-based methodology that your child’s brain needs, it isn’t truly specialized. And without that, it just won’t close the gap.

5:30 Section three, what the research proves.

5:33 Let’s shift gears for a second from methodology to the hard emotional data that IEP teams rarely, if ever, discuss during those super stressful retention meetings.

5:43 1,000, that is an important number. That is roughly the total number of instructional hours in a standard school year. 1,000 hours. If the instructional method is wrong for your child’s unique brain, those 1,000 hours are going to produce absolutely zero progress. It is just agonizing to think of a sweet, incredibly capable child struggling, masking, and trying their absolute best for a thousand hours, feeling like they’re somehow broken, only to be told by the adults in the room that they need to do it all over again. And the toll this takes on a child’s tender spirit is absolutely devastating. In a 2024 study looking at dyslexic primary students, researchers found that 36.5% showed symptoms of depression and 26.3% showed symptoms of anxiety,

6:29 We are talking about very young children carrying the heavy emotional weight of feeling inadequate every single day. Holding a child back just stacks another traumatic year of mismatched instruction right on top of these already staggering baseline rates. As parents, as advocates, we simply have to protect their spirit and their mental health first and foremost. We have to value their well-being over arbitrary academic calendars. Furthermore, the long term documented costs of grade retention are seriously alarming. A 2025 study by Mariano and colleagues revealed that retained students in New York City faced drastically worse outcomes than their peers who weren’t held back. They dropped out at significantly higher rates. They took fewer core exams and they ultimately graduated with fewer credits. The evidence here is abundantly clear, even if schools are a little slow to adapt to it. Retention often causes far more harm than good, and it creates this ripple effect of academic disengagement that can honestly last for years.

7:22 Thank you so much for having me.

7:42 Targeted, specialized tutoring produces measurable change in months, not years. You really do not need to surrender a whole year of your child’s life to a repeated grade. The more hours of the right, brain-aligned instruction your child actually receives, the bigger and more beautiful those gains are going to be. Section 4.

7:58 The 6-Month Roadmap. So let’s transition to a hopeful, actionable plan. We want to show you exactly what the light at the end of the tunnel actually looks like for your family when you choose intervention over retention. It starts right at intake, where an optional comprehensive assessment identifies your child’s exact needs and perfectly matched instruction begins right away.

8:21 By month three, this is huge. Parents finally breathe a sigh of relief as they start seeing real change. The kitchen table literally stops being a battleground of tears. Anxiety drops and there’s a newfound willingness to learn.

8:34 By month six, the triumph truly sets in. That specific academic gap the school flagged for attention, it actually begins closing. Replacing that lost year with two to four specialized sessions a week completely heals your home environment and, most importantly, restores your child’s confidence. Section five, your right to say no.

8:53 This brings us to a critically important realization, and I really want you to hear this. You hold the power.

9:00 Before you sign any paperwork, Dr. Leah strongly urges you to take these three steps to fiercely advocate for your child. Step one, ask the school what specifically will be different about the second year. If the instructional method is the exact same, well, the outcome is going to be the exact same. Step two, request an independent educational evaluation if you disagree with the school’s findings. You are totally allowed to seek outside expertise. And step three, exercise your legal right to simply refuse to sign the retention paperwork. Now, I know saying no to a room full of professionals is incredibly hard, but it is your absolute right as a parent to protect your child. You have the absolute right to say no to retention. There is a scientifically proven, much better way, and expert, compassionate help is available for your child right now. If you’re looking for a roadmap to specialized tutoring, you can call READ Learning Center at 916-234-5880.

9:53 You hold the pen here. What is their next chapter going to be? Thank you so much for learning with us today.

About the author

Dr. Leah Skinner, Ed.D.

Founder, READ Learning Center

Dr. Leah Skinner is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist with a Doctor of Education in Reading, Literacy and Assessment and a Master of Education with a specialization in dyslexia. She has more than twenty years of experience in structured literacy, dyslexia intervention and educational advocacy, and founded READ Learning Center and READ Academy of Sacramento.

Replace the Year That Did Not Work

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