Using National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) data, researchers examined the reading growth rates of secondary students who had been retained between kindergarten and 8th grade and those of a matched comparison group of students who had never been retained (n = 878 in each group). Descriptive statistics and latent growth models revealed that the retained group correctly answered 22.27% of NELS reading questions in 8th grade compared to 22.96% answered correctly by the not-retained students and that the not-retained students could expect to answer 3.33% more reading questions correctly at 10th and 12th grades compared to 2.44% for the retained group. The article discusses whether these findings are the result of other initial differences between the groups, negative consequences of retention, or alternative explanations. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)