Grade retention is common in many educational systems. While generally supported by teachers

and policy makers, it is condemned by scientists as ineffective for improving achievement. Evidence

on non-cognitive outcomes is mixed, with studies finding both detrimental and beneficial sideeffects.

We argue that the contexts in which retained students reside explain whether retention

results in favorable or unfavorable side-effects. Scholars explain retention’ side-effects by social

comparison theory, and we know that contextual features determine the outcomes of comparison.

Contextual features, however, are largely neglected in retention research. In the proposed project,

we aim to examine and explain cross-national and between-school differences in retention’ noncognitive

outcomes in secondary education and its post-secondary education outcomes. We address

four objectives. First, we examine whether non-cognitive outcomes of retention differ according to

systems’heterogeneity management model. Second, we study the role of structural school features,

specifically the ability and retention composition. Third, we assess whether schools’student and

teacher cultures mediate structural contextual differences in the outcomes of retention. Fourth, as

non-cognitive features predict post-secondary education outcomes, we examine cross-national and

between-school differences in the long-term outcomes of retention in terms of success in higher

education or on the labour market.