Abstract
Looping is the practice of a teacher staying with the same group of students for two or more years. This thesis examines the effect looping has on the academic achievement of students who participate in a three-year, grade four though six loop. An overview provides both historical and international backgrounds. This is followed by a summary of the literature focusing on the impacts looping has on parents, teachers, and students. Research was conducted at one elementary school with one class that had looped and one class that had not. The looping class included 27 out of a class of 34 students who had looped. The non-looping class consisted in 30 out of 33 students who had been together as students, but had had a different teacher each year. Research method consisted in the collection of standardized test data for both classes. A t-test for independent mean was applied to both math and English language arts data for both groups whole classes as well as disaggregated by gender and second-language learner status. The results of data analysis showed a recurrent theme of increased academic achievement in both math and English language arts for the looping group.