High school came with more responsibility and less accountability for Josiah Ulukita. Courses were much harder, teachers were less strict about attendance and it was easier to skip school with friends or go on his phone during class, he said. 

Ulukita went from easily passing middle school to failing freshman English and social studies. After missing roughly half of his freshman year due to poor attendance, he found out he needed to repeat ninth grade. The shame of being held back led him to lose motivation and skip more school, he said, until his counselor warned him that he may not graduate on time. 

鈥淚 was acing all my classes, and then I hit freshman year,鈥� Ulukita said. 鈥淚 thought it was going to be easy.鈥�

More than a thousand students in Hawai驶i share Ulukita鈥檚 experience each year. Roughly 1 in 10 students failed their freshman year in the state鈥檚 public high schools and had to repeat the grade in the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent year for which federal data is available. That鈥檚 more than double the national rate for this group of teens that year, according to an analysis of national data by Big Local News, an initiative of Stanford University.

In the school years since, the rate has decreased somewhat but remained high. In the 2024-2025 school year, 1 in 13 freshmen were held back, according to the state education department. 

Hawai驶i鈥檚 status as a national outlier is made all the more jarring considering younger Hawai驶i students rarely repeat a grade 鈥�  of elementary and middle schoolers overall. But that progress seems to come to a screeching halt in high school when more rigid requirements kick in to advance to the next level.

Other states like Mississippi and Florida are taking a more proactive approach to retention, holding students back as early as kindergarten through third grade. More than two dozen states require or allow schools to  who aren鈥檛 proficient in reading. Hawai驶i has no such law on the books.

While research on the effects of retention is mixed, some studies find that students have better outcomes when they鈥檙e held back in their younger years and receive additional support to catch up academically to their peers. There鈥檚 little evidence that holding teens back in high school improves their learning, and some researchers argue that it actually hurts students鈥� chances of earning their diplomas.

鈥淚n earlier grades, basically grade retention could work if retention is supplemented with educational supports for these kids,鈥� said Umut Ozek, a senior economist at RAND, a nonpartisan research and policy organization. 鈥淚n contrast, in middle and high school, the evidence suggests that retention could actually harm students.鈥� 

Hawai驶i students and teachers attribute the high number of ninth graders being held back to a number of factors. Some say there鈥檚 more peer pressure to skip class and dodge assignments. Classes are harder and require students to have strong foundations in reading and math. Many students are unaccustomed to the strict credit requirements they need to fulfill to move to the next grade. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a shock for the kids to understand that unless they receive a certain amount of credits, they can鈥檛 move on anymore,鈥� said Dean Cevallos, principal at Kea驶au High School on the Big Island. 

Schools try to avoid holding students back by offering summer school, counseling, personalized learning plans and other resources, state education department Deputy Superintendent Heidi Armstrong said in a written statement. Freshman year can be academically challenging for some students, she said, and some teens might have challenges earning the credits they need to move on to 10th grade. 

The education department has declared a goal of promoting more freshmen to 10th grade by doubling down on students鈥� academic readiness and engagement beginning in middle school, according to its .

鈥淭he Department鈥檚 goal is to ensure students are prepared for continued academic success and remain on track toward earning a high school diploma,鈥� Armstrong said.

Repeating ninth grade comes with consequences, including the possibility that students drop out without earning their diplomas. Some say the embarrassment of taking classes with younger students led them to attend school less frequently and fall further behind in their studies, while others said it motivated them to take their academics more seriously and catch up with their peers. 

Ulukita, who had to repeat ninth grade, was able to earn the credits he needed to complete both his freshman and sophomore year through additional courses, after-school work and a better attendance record. Now a junior at Kaimuk墨 High School, Ulukita is on track to graduate with the rest of his peers in 2028. 

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to lock in more, do all your classes, make sure you get all your credits and graduate on time,鈥� Ulukita said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to be that super senior.鈥�

Why Ninth Grade?

Freshmen must earn five credits 鈥� the equivalent of five yearlong classes 鈥� to move on to 10th grade. Most high school students take several classes during their freshman year, meaning that kids can fail one or two courses and still earn enough credits to move up. Students must continue to accumulate credits and pass their core classes throughout high school until they earn the  needed to graduate. 

When students repeat ninth grade, they鈥檙e not starting from scratch, said Elise Hannigan, Kea驶au High School鈥檚 Freshman Academy coordinator. Instead, students retake the freshman classes they failed but move on to 10th grade coursework whenever possible.

If students don鈥檛 have foundational academic skills by the time they get to high school, teachers say, it can make passing freshman classes more difficult. Students often take heavier course loads once they get to high school, and teachers may move through material more quickly. 

Students who scored below standards on eighth grade reading and math tests were less likely to pass all of their ninth grade courses and complete high school in five years, according to a 2024 report from , which studies students鈥� progress from preschool through college. 

It鈥檚 sometimes hard to determine if students are failing ninth grade because of academic or social issues, Hannigan said. 

If students attend school regularly, she said, they鈥檙e usually able to pass their classes, even if they need extra support from their teachers. But it鈥檚 difficult to get students up to speed if they鈥檙e not at school, she said, and teens may be less willing to engage in class if they already feel behind.  

鈥淚 would say, of the students who are not getting their five credits, the majority of them, it鈥檚 because they just have not been in school enough to do the work necessary to pass the classes,鈥� Hannigan said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e not in school, it鈥檚 really hard to support a student.鈥� 

Coming out of the pandemic, ninth graders were struggling academically, especially in math, said Kim Williamson, principal of P膩hoa High and Intermediate on the Big Island. At the time, the school was retaining nearly a quarter of its freshman class,  from the 2021-22 academic year. 

The school strengthened its academic support for its students, Williamson said, offering after-school tutoring and setting aside blocks of time for kids to receive extra instruction in reading and math. Because ninth grade algebra can be especially challenging for some students, he said, the school has created a pre-algebra course to make sure freshmen have foundational skills before they start on the high school coursework. 

鈥淚f they didn鈥檛 get a basic skill when they were younger, it does amplify as they get older,鈥� Williamson said. 

In the 2024-25 academic year, the school鈥檚 ninth grade retention rate was 12%, a significant improvement from a few years ago.   

Lasting Effects

Shylyn Jimenez didn鈥檛 want to be at Leilehua High School in Wahiaw膩 during her freshman year. She had been dealing with bullying since middle school and fell in with the wrong crowd, she said. When she needed to repeat the grade, she lost motivation to attend class and complete her course requirements.  

鈥淭he more I kept messing up in school, the more I didn鈥檛 care, and the more it made it easy to not show up,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n my head at that time, the things that I was doing outside of school were way more fun than school itself.鈥� 

Only 57% of students who failed two or more classes in ninth grade completed high school in five years, compared to the state average of 89%, . Roughly 12% of freshmen who enroll in Hawai驶i high schools  within four years, although the education department doesn鈥檛 specify how many of these students had to repeat a grade.

After her freshman year, Jimenez appeared in court for truancy. She was referred to an alternative learning program, which offered extended school days and year-round classes for kids who fall behind and need significant help catching up on their credits. While she initially resisted coming to class, the staff never gave up on her 鈥� sometimes showing up at her house to make sure she came to school.  

鈥淚 needed somebody to tell me, 鈥業f you don鈥檛 get your ass in school, there鈥檚 going to be consequences,’鈥� Jimenez said. 

It took Jimenez an extra year to complete high school, but she earned her diploma last year and is now enrolled in a cosmetology program at Honolulu Community College.It鈥檚 hard to say how repeating ninth grade affects student achievement, said Francisco Martorell, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Education. Most studies focus on students who were held back in elementary or middle school. 

Generally, holding older students back can negatively affect their chances of completing high school and enrolling in college, said Ozek, the senior economist at RAND. Schools run the risk of students aging out before they earn their diplomas, meaning they can drop out at any time, and the stigma of repeating a grade may be stronger among older students. 

鈥淭he bottom line is grade retention in later grades, especially in high school,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s not really a good idea.鈥�

Gearing Up For High School

At Kea驶au High School, students鈥� transition to ninth grade starts weeks before the school year begins.

Incoming freshmen spend three weeks on campus in June taking classes, learning how to participate in clubs and athletics and painting a class mural in the ninth grade building. The most recent addition was a gray and white shark sternly folding its arms, surrounded by maroon and black block letters reading 鈥�2030 SHARKS.鈥� 

While the program isn鈥檛 mandatory, it typically draws 80 to 90 students 鈥� roughly 30% of the incoming freshman class. The summer initiative focuses on helping students develop a strong sense of belonging and community with their peers, which can translate to better attendance and lower retention rates during the school year, Hannigan said.

Typically, she said, around 6% of students need to repeat ninth grade at Kea驶au. 

Over the summer, freshman Tristan Hanley was worried about choosing the right classes and adjusting to Kea驶au鈥檚 campus before entering the school鈥檚 summer transition program. He came out of the program excited to join the school鈥檚 band program and football team and had gotten to know some of his teachers.

鈥淚t just allowed me to see all of these new opportunities at the school and hear about them and try them out a little bit too,鈥� Hanley said.  

While many schools are trying to ease students鈥� transition to ninth grade, some challenges start well before teens enter high school, prompting national debates on whether kids should be held back earlier.

Danni-Cheree Lee鈥檚 son began falling behind in elementary school. He frequently asked to stay home from school and felt ashamed to ask for help in class, she said. 

Despite his struggles, Lee鈥檚 son continued progressing through the grades until his attendance issues caught up to him in middle school, when he needed to repeat sixth and seventh grade. At the time, Lee was dealing with back and neck issues and didn鈥檛 have a car, she said, so it was hard to force her son to attend school.

Lee said her son might have benefited from being held back earlier, when his elementary school first began noticing problems with his attendance. While repeating grades in middle school gave him more time to learn the material, he also experienced teasing as his classmates noticed he had fallen behind.

Principals rarely hold kids back before high school and tend to have more discretion around student retention in the younger grades. The Hawai驶i Board of Education only specifies that schools must promote students based on their  and social development, and students must  like English, math, science and social studies to complete middle school. 

At Jarrett Middle School in P膩lolo Valley, Principal Reid Kuba said it鈥檚 a balancing act when deciding whether to move some students up to high school. Teachers offer after-school classes and summer school to prepare students as much as possible for ninth grade, he said, but he also knows that students who need to repeat a grade in middle school face a greater risk of aging out of the system before they earn their diploma.   

鈥淔or me, and I think all the middle school principals, that鈥檚 the main thing, is trying to get them to graduate,鈥� Kuba said. 鈥淪o they鈥檙e not only looking at grades, but their age.鈥� 

Ideally, Kuba said, it would be beneficial for some kids to repeat a grade when they鈥檙e much younger, such as kindergarten or first grade, when they鈥檙e developing fundamental skills and less aware that they鈥檙e a year behind their peers.

For Lee鈥檚 son, the turning point came when he enrolled in an alternative learning program, where the classes were smaller and teachers were strict about attendance, she said. Having adults who genuinely cared about his education motivated him to complete his high school classes and explore new topics like finance, she said. 

Even though he fell behind in middle school, he earned enough credits to graduate on time with the rest of his peers in 2022. 

鈥淚 do not think any child should have to wait to be held back once in high school because that鈥檒l make it worse,鈥� Lee said. 鈥淚magine how much schooling, how far behind they are in these subjects, and then they鈥檙e only going to be given four years to catch up on everything.鈥� 

 about being held back was produced in partnership with Big Local News and The Hechinger Report. Data analysis was conducted by Eric Sagara, senior data journalist with Big Local News.

. Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Across all four-year universities and community colleges, male freshmen enrollment declined by 1.3 percent compared to female freshmen enrollment which declined by 3.2 percent, the research center found. 

Between fall 2020 to 2022, there was a 1.5 percent drop among college freshmen, 90 percent of which are students aged 18 to 20 years old.

The steepest drops among college freshmen in fall 2022 were white, Asian and Black students who declined by 7, 3.2 and 2 percentage points respectively.

鈥淭he pandemic disproportionately harmed women, particularly women of color and low-income women, and this is one more example of that impact,鈥� said Catherine Brown, senior director of policy and advocacy for the .

Brown noted that women were often the ones who 鈥渟tepped up to homeschool, to take care of children, to take care of parents and to take care of people with health problems鈥� during the pandemic.

Stephen Barker, director of communications at said the caretaking trend trickled down to young women who were 鈥渄isproportionately caring for siblings at home while their parents were working.鈥�

鈥淭here were a lot of barriers for girls to get through the school work and graduate from high school. It鈥檚 something unique to a lot of girls who would have otherwise been college bound,鈥� Barker said. 

Despite an overall 4.2 percent drop in college enrollment since fall 2020 among all students, the declines have slowed down and are comparable to pre-pandemic rates, the research center found.

The group looked at 42 states and found enrollment declines in 27 this fall. While some states had increases 鈥� South Carolina, New Hampshire, and New Mexico had the largest 鈥� Alaska, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri and Nevada saw the largest declines, between 4.3 and 5.2 percentage points. 

The decline in freshmen female college enrollment is a 鈥渘ew phenomenon鈥� that may take several years for recovery, Barker added. 

鈥淎s the economy recovers and we鈥檙e past this need for something immediate for girls to support their family and themselves, then I think we鈥檒l see them pivoting and returning back to school,鈥� Barker said.

Two female college freshmen who did enroll said they could both see and feel the pandemic鈥檚 impact on young womens鈥� secondary school plans.

When she got to campus, Caroline Holtman, a freshman engineering major at Texas A&M University, discovered that only a fraction of her classmates were female.

鈥淭here are a few classes I鈥檓 in where the girls are severely outnumbered. For one of my classes, the ratio was one girl to every four or five guys,鈥� Holtman, 18, told 社区黑料.

鈥淭hat was probably the biggest challenge going from [high school] classes that are pretty evenly split between guys and girls to classes where all I see are men,鈥� Holtman said.

The initial barriers finding a community of female friends in her STEM classes was difficult, she added. 

鈥淚 knew that I鈥檇 be going through this degree with very few women, but I really didn鈥檛 understand the magnitude of it until I got here,鈥� Holtman said.

Pooja Muthuraj, a freshman at the College of William & Mary planned to pursue a lengthy academic path to become a doctor, but said the pandemic influenced her views on what a healthy family life should look like.

鈥淗aving to spend that much of your life at school affects me and my female friends in particular because our biological realities impact us more than men,鈥� Muthuraj, 18, told 社区黑料.

鈥淚t’s definitely a concern when thinking about having a family in the future,鈥� Muthuraj said after watching her mom struggle to balance career and family.

Instead, Muthuraj plans to pursue a career in health nonprofit. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e decisions I don鈥檛 think I would have considered so much if the pandemic never occurred,鈥� Muthuraj said.