Retentions - Determining the Number of Retentions for SPR Purposes

Definition. For purposes of the School Performance Report, "Retention" means a pupil has not made progress in a prescribed course of study. A student is considered a retention if:

• In an ungraded instructional unit, a pupil needs an additional year to complete a prescribed program.
• At the end of a school year, a pupil in grades kindergarten through 8 must repeat a grade.
• At the end of any year in high school (freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior years) the pupil had a deficit of credits equal to or more than one-seventh (1/7) of the district's high school graduation requirements (see table). The assumption is that at the end of a given school year, a student would have accumulated at least one fourth of the credits required to graduate. For example, if 20 credits are required to graduate, a student on track to graduation in four years would have five credits at the end of his/her freshman year, 10 credits at the end of his/her sophomore year, and 15 credits at the end of his/her junior year.

EXAMPLE

Roosevelt School District

Total number of credits for graduation: 22

One-seventh of the total: 3.1

In this example, a student needs 22 credits to graduate. 1/7 of 22 is 3.1. If a student is on track to graduate, he or she will have 5.5 credits after 9th grade, 11 credits after 10th grade, 16.5 credits after 11th grade and 22 credits -- the required number -- at the end of 12th grade.

The 1/7 rule allows some flexibility in a retention determination. A 9th grader would not have to be retained simply because he or she had only five credits at the end of the year. The student would have to have 2.4 or fewer credits (5.5 - 3.1) to be retained and counted as a retention for SPR purposes.

In this example, a student would be retained at the end of 10th grade if he or she had 7.9 or fewer credits toward graduation.

Because of the timing of the collection of data for the School Performance Report, careful attention should be paid to a student's summer-school status. A pupil who will qualify for promotion or graduation due to work completed during summer school should not be reported as a retention.

Pupil Category.

Report retentions by ethnic and gender categories for students in grade kindergarten through 12. This collection does not apply to students in the following programs: Birth Through Age 2, Special Ed. for Age 3, Special Ed. for Age 4, Special Ed. for Age 5, Title 1 Preschool, Head Start, or 4-Year-Old Kindergarten.

Number of Retentions.

The number of retentions is the number of students retained at the end of the school year.

For questions about this information, contact dpispr@dpi.wi.gov (608) 267-9619

Last updated on 2/28/2008 8:23:24 AM