A study published in the journal Economics of Education Review suggests that assigning pupils to the same teacher two years in a row may improve academic performance because teachers get to know their pupils and are able to adjust and target their teaching styles accordingly.
Hill and Jones (2018) used administrative data from North Carolina to observe the importance of pupil–teacher familiarity on academic performance in elementary (primary) school.
They found that：
- “Looping”, in which an entire class moves to the next year with the same teacher, results in a small but statistically significant increase in pupil achievement.
- Pupils who spent a second year with the same teacher scored higher on end-of-year tests (ES = +0.12) than those who weren’t matched.
- These benefits were greatest for minority pupils and lower-performing teachers (as measured by value-added).
The authors suggest that schools could consider the policy of assigning classes to the same teacher for sequential grade for its benefits to students and low cost. Moreover, the findings also indicate the benefits of establishing relationships or greater familiarity with students to their achievements.