On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Umut Özek and Louis Mariano, researchers at the Rand Corporation, join Mike to discuss whether grade retention helps or harms students. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study that examines if cash payouts can improve student attendance.

Recommended content:

• “Think Again: Is grade retention bad for Kids?” — Umut Özek and Louis Mariano, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute 
• “Retaining struggling readers in third grade sounds good–but it’s too little, too late, too often” —Kalman R. Hettleman, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Damien de Walque and Christine Valente, “Incentivizing school attendance in the presence of parent-child information frictions,” American Economic Journal (August 2023).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].