Most public policy efforts are very specific about the individuals or groups intended to benefit from their implementation, and evaluations of such policies generally stick to impacts on the target population. However, education policies aimed at helping certain K–12 students can also have wider implications for other students. A recent working paper from David Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik, and Umut Özek illustrates this very clearly by focusing on the ways a mandatory third grade retention policy impacts others through a “sibling spillover” effect.
Florida’s third grade retention policy was enacted in 2002 as part of a broad literacy push. Students who do not meet a designated target score on the state test (called “Level 2”) are, with a few exceptions, retained in third grade and—importantly—given substantial additional instructional support. This includes development of an academic improvement plan that address students’ specific learning needs, assignment of students to high-performing teachers, providing at least ninety minutes of daily reading instruction, and offering six to eight weeks of summer camp that facilitates intensive reading intervention.
The researchers focus on seven cohorts of students who entered third grade in Florida for the first time between 2002–03 and 2008–09, as well as their closest younger sibling. Sibling identification comes from administrative date from the Florida Department of Education. Students without identified siblings are excluded. The researchers limit their sample to sibling pairs where the younger sibling was already enrolled in a public school (kindergarten through second grade) at the time when the older sibling entered third grade for the first time. Treatment group students were those third-graders retained when falling just below the Level 2 cutoff, along with their siblings. A comparison group of students comprised third-graders who scored just above the cutoff, along with their siblings. All students were followed through fifth grade.
Overall, students retained in third grade showed improved test scores (approximately 0.2 standard deviations in both reading and math) and lower likelihood of grade repetition in future elementary grades than their peers who scored just above the Level 2 cutoff. This accords with other research showing similar outcomes. But the big news is that the nearest younger siblings of retained students also showed improved test scores (between 22 and 31 percent of the effects on their older siblings), as compared to students with non-retained older siblings. The effects were particularly pronounced in families where one of the children had an IEP, for boys, and in immigrant families.
What’s going on here? The analysts suggest, with abundant caution, that some combination of in-school and home-based factors are involved. For some reason, the younger siblings of retained third-graders are significantly more likely to be assigned to higher-quality teachers (using value-added scores) than their control group peers, and are also more likely to be in classrooms with higher-performing classmates. On the home side, data suggest that parents of retained third-graders are more likely to move their younger children (although not the retained child) to higher-performing and better-resourced schools, particularly in terms of reading resources.
While nothing causal can be concluded using the available data, the firm indication is that test-based retention triggers action in both educators and parents—not just for the retained student, but also for his or her younger sibling. Researchers should dig further to figure out the details and to see if the same spillover effects can be found elsewhere. But the headline finding should also stand on its own: Test-based retention policies accompanied by strong student supports can work even better than intended.
SOURCE: David Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik, and Umut Özek, “Sibling Spillovers May Enhance the Efficacy of Targeted School Policies,” Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University (June 2023).
