Equally performing, unfairly evaluated: The social determinants of grade repetition in Italian high schools

Grade repetition requires students with poor performance to repeat the same grade for an additional year. Despite it being commonly used, little attention has been paid to its link with inequality of educational opportunities. Based on a new large longitudinal dataset of a cohort of secondary students in Italian high schools, the present paper questions the extent to which less advantaged students (in terms of parents’ educational title and migration background) are retained in grade 9 beyond pre-existing performance differences. The paper also addresses the role of school context (in terms of track and social composition) in determining a grade repetition. This paper provides evidence that, among students with comparable (poor) performance, the risk of repeating a year is substantially higher for those with parents who have less than a high school degree or have a migrant background. Additionally, grade repetition chances for students with highly educated parents are even lower in academic tracks and schools with advantaged social composition. Eventually, the paper critically assesses likely explanations for the observed gap, such as differences in parents’ support and teachers’ expectations.