At least 29 states and Washington, D.C., allow or require schools to hold back struggling 3rd graders who don鈥檛 pass state standardized reading tests, the result of ongoing attempts to close the nation鈥檚 achievement gap. But as families wrestle with online learning, a pandemic economy, and mental health difficulties, some states are revisiting that approach.
Two states, Florida and Mississippi, decided this year that pupils who fail reading assessments won鈥檛 be held back. Lawmakers in a third state, Michigan, are debating the same policy.
Proponents of letting students pass despite failed assessments say states should focus resources on strengthening classroom instruction and literacy intervention efforts. Critics counter that students who aren鈥檛 retained will continue to struggle academically.
This year鈥檚 discussions echo an ongoing debate in education circles about the value of retention policies. On the one hand, holding back pupils, in theory, would give them an extra year to improve academic performance. On the other hand, studies have shown that Black and Hispanic students are retained at disproportionate rates, and many education experts say intervention, rather than retention, is the key to helping students who struggle.
鈥淭hese kids are little. They鈥檙e like 8-years-old and they鈥檝e only been reading for two or three years,鈥� said Franki Sibberson, a retired 3rd grade teacher and a former president of the National Council of Teachers on English. Sibberson said she understands the importance of assessments, but that focusing on one high-stakes test doesn鈥檛 provide teachers with a complete picture of a student鈥檚 progress. This emphasis on test scores makes it difficult to meet the child鈥檚 needs, she said.
鈥淚 feel like the trauma of being in a global pandemic is big for many of our children,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd the idea of possible retention because of a test just would add another level of trauma during a time when there鈥檚 already so much trauma for children.鈥�
At least 17 states and Washington, D.C., have mandatory retention laws; another 12 states allow it but don鈥檛 require it. Yet some states have reconsidered those laws, at least temporarily.
Mississippi鈥檚 state board of education decided this winter that it would suspend the retention policy for 3rd graders this year, allowing all pupils to pass on to the fourth grade even if they fail the standardized reading test. The state made similar accommodations for older students, allowing high schoolers who took algebra, biology, English II, and U.S. history end-of-year tests this year to eventually graduate even if they fail the exams.
In Florida, the state board of education issued an emergency order this spring that allows 3rd graders to pass on to 4th grade鈥攚ith a parent鈥檚 input鈥攅ven if they fail state assessments. Local school districts must consider students鈥� academic performance.
Similarly, the state allowed districts to waive state assessment for students graduating this year. Schools are authorized to promote students based on their academic records.
The U.S. Department of Education granted states flexibility on testing this spring, including altering the administration of tests and waiving accountability and school requirements under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, known as ESSA.
Although the waivers are in place, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran still encouraged students to take the assessments.
鈥淎ll sides say you want accountability,鈥� Corcoran said during a March news conference. 鈥淲e gotta go out there and get the measurement. When we get the measurement, then we can sit back, look at the data and make the decisions that are best for children.鈥�
Other states are considering combining delays with a future expansion of retention policies.
In Michigan, passed in 2016 allows 3rd graders to be kept back if they fall a grade level behind in reading on a statewide exam. Last year, more than 56,000, or 5 percent, of the state鈥檚 3rd graders would have flunked because of the law, which took effect in 2020.
Now lawmakers are debating legislation that would delay test-based promotion for 3rd graders this spring, but then broaden the retention policy to both 3rd and 4th graders next year. If lawmakers fail to pass the bill this session, nearly 2,700 at-risk 3rd graders could repeat because of low test scores.
Michigan Republican state Sen. Ken Horn, who co-sponsored the that would suspend the 3rd grade law, said kids need time to catch up this year because of the pandemic. Despite this, Horn supports the state鈥檚 retention policy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the kids, but the administrators who run the schools,鈥� Horn told Stateline. 鈥淏y golly, if we can send a man to the moon, if we can make cars that can drive themselves, we should be able to teach 3rd graders how to read at a 3rd-grade level in the 3rd grade. It doesn鈥檛 get any simpler than that.鈥�
Horn said he is confident the bill will pass out of the legislature, but he fears that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, will veto the bill or not sign it. Since she was elected governor in 2019, Whitmer has said she wants to overturn the state鈥檚 retention law, The Detroit News .
A spokesperson in Whitmer鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 directly respond to Horn鈥檚 comments about whether the governor would veto or sign the legislation but said the governor 鈥渉as and will continue to oppose the state鈥檚 retention laws.鈥�
Michael Rice, Michigan鈥檚 state superintendent, last week slamming both the law and the proposed legislation.
鈥淭hird grade retentions are bad public policy, and even more so if expanding to students in two grades,鈥� said Rice. 鈥淟ocal school districts need to work carefully with families to focus on reading supports and minimize retentions and the resultant adverse impact to children.鈥�
A similar scenario played out in Alabama, where Republican Gov. Kay Ivey last week vetoed a bill that would have pushed back 3rd-grade retention. Ivey called the delay 鈥渉asty and premature,鈥� but said she would advise the state鈥檚 Department of Education to gather data to see whether a delay would be warranted later.
Earlier this year, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed stricter rules to enforce the state鈥檚 retention law. The governor鈥檚 proposal mandates that students who are held back must either retake the state test or attend summer or after-school tutoring programs beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.
Texas lawmakers pondered whether to give parents the power to decide their child鈥檚 fate. That state鈥檚 bill, which passed from the House to the Senate Education Committee, did not proceed before the legislature adjourned May 31.
Nationally, the percentage of public school students retained each year has been falling, from 3.1 percent in 2000 to 1.9 percent in 2016, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 National Center for Education Statistics. Still, Black and Hispanic students were retained at higher rates than White students nearly every year, in some cases at much higher rates.
And during the pandemic, many of those students have been the least likely to have stable access to remote instruction, most likely to miss in-person support, and most likely to have lost a family member or friend to COVID-19, said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the country鈥檚 largest teacher鈥檚 membership organization, in a statement.
鈥淚nstead of focusing on placement based on a test score, districts need to consider the impact of the pandemic on the whole child and focus on what is needed to ensure that their social, emotional, and developmental needs are met before they can resume unfinished learning,鈥� Pringle continued.
Several studies assert that 3rd grade is a pivotal point for young learners because it is when children learn to read. By fourth grade, kids are reading to learn. When kids aren鈥檛 literate by 3rd grade, the setback is an early indication that the child may never catch up or that they may drop out of high school, according to The Children鈥檚 Reading Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on early childhood education.
But research studies haven鈥檛 found strong evidence that retention helps students鈥� long-term academic achievement, according to a 2018 report by the Southern Regional Education Board, a nonprofit organization focused on education policy. Additionally, retaining a student is expensive, and districts must bear the cost.
Florida鈥檚 3rd-grade reading policy, implemented in 2002, has served as a model for other states, according to a 2012 report from the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. The report showed some positive outcomes for students who were retained in 3rd grade, including short-term gains in math and reading. However, these improvements became statistically insignificant by the time students entered 7th grade, the report found.
Franci Crepeau-Hobson, an associate professor of psychology and director of clinical training at the University of Denver, echoed Sibberson鈥檚 remarks about trauma, especially for students experiencing housing and food insecurity, inadequate internet connections, and other family-related stressors.
Crepeau-Hobson said this is the time to focus on providing safe and supportive school climates in the upcoming school year because students benefit from consistency and predictability. Crepeau-Hobson is a member of the National Association of School Psychologists, which opposes retention as an intervention strategy.
Because of the pandemic, more kids likely will be required to repeat the 3rd grade and won鈥檛 be performing on grade level, said Marty West, professor of education policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. West, the author of the Brookings report on Florida鈥檚 retention law, added that retention may not be the right intervention method for kids, though it shouldn鈥檛 be taken off the table.
鈥淪ome students benefit from being held back, but the first instinct should be to build a structure of support that would allow a student to succeed while remaining with their grade cohort,鈥� West told Stateline.
鈥淎nd that may not be possible in all cases,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I think being behind academically as a result of the disruption of the pandemic is a different phenomenon than being behind academically after having received the instruction and services typically available in grades kindergarten to three.鈥�
