No. No Child Left Behind, signed into law in 2002, and its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act, contain no statutory language prohibiting schools from holding students back. Promotion and retention, though variably influenced by legislative incentives, are under state and local purview. NCLB created sanctions to hold schools accountable for raising student performance which, though made more flexible by ESSA, remain rooted in minimum proficiency levels and standardized testing — metrics used in some states to determine promotion.  Data shows that retention rates peaked from 1999-2005 at 2.9 percent and declined to 1.5 percent in 2010, explained by some by the incentive to increase graduation rates.  However, in the pursuit of boosting testing results, retention can increase among some low-performing students, who may be excluded from standardized testing altogether.  In Oklahoma, 3rd graders scoring below proficiency on state literacy tests could once be retained, though this was eliminated by the 2024 Strong Readers Act. This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one. Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Sources Congress.gov H.R.1 – No Child Left Behind Act of 2001Congress.gov EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACTManhattan Institute Test-Based Promotion Policies Have a Substantial Positive Effect on StudentsAmerican Educational Research Association Study Finds Steep Decline in Students Repeating GradesNational Academies Evidence on the Use of Test-Based IncentivesStanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education Evaluating 'No Child Left Behind'ALEPH (UCLA) Shape Up or Ship Out: The Effect of No Child Left Behind on Teachers’ Methods of TeachingJUSTIA U.S. Law 2022 Oklahoma Statutes Title 70. Schools §70-1210.508C. Programs of reading instructionOklahoma Legistlature SENATE BILL NO. 362 The post Did the No Child Left Behind Act and similar legislation prohibit schools from holding students back? appeared first on Oklahoma Watch. ...read more read less