This study of eighth graders investigates the effects of Kindergarten attendance on (1) Basic Skills Test (BST) performance and (2) the incidence of grade retention (non-promotion). To accomplish the first purpose, over 64,000 eighth grade pupils in the public schools of Tennessee were administered the BST. On each answer sheet of the BST pupils…

There are several sides to the debate between adult basic education administrators and teachers concerning the practice of defining literacy by, and dividing adult education programs into, grade levels. Some believe that grade levels are irrelevant or demeaning to typical adult job requirements. Others believe that numerical scores derived by…