this proportion is particularly high in belgium france luxembourg portugal and spain where it affects over of students in these countries repetition has been one of the main tools to respond to individual weak performance and preserve an even level of attainment within each classroom a study based on pisa data found that in about half of the countries examined students socioeconomic status is related to the likelihood of repeating a grade even after accounting for student academic performance monseur and lafontaine in fact data from pisa revealed among oecd countries of the variation in the likelihood of a student repeating a primary grade is observed at the student level at the school level and at the system level coos et al teachers widely support grade repetition as they can see the immediate gains in going over the same curriculum a second time jimerson anderson and whipple