Maryland's Reading Crisis: Link Between Third Grade Proficiency and High School Dropout Rates

By FOX45
Posted on 02/29/24 | News Source: FOX45

Baltimore, MD - Feb. 29, 2024  - According to the study, 23 percent of below-basic third grade readers will likely drop out of high school. For comparison, nine percent of children with basic reading skills and four percent of proficient readers will likely drop out of high school.

The report then looked at Maryland’s prison population and found 57 percent of inmates under age 25 were high school dropouts.

“We want to make sure that we can get as many of our third graders reading by the end of the year as possible,” said Mitchell.

If that’s the goal, the question then becomes, how is it accomplished?

Dr. Carey Wright was appointed Interim State Superintendent of Schools by the Maryland State Board of Education in October 2023.

The report then looked at Maryland’s prison population and found 57 percent of inmates under age 25 were high school dropouts (WBFF)

“I think you can identify little ones that are struggling very young,” Dr. Wright said during a press conference that same month.

Dr. Wright has made it a priority to improve reading proficiencies, which is something she’s done before. In 2013, she was hired as the Mississippi State Superintendent of Education and presided over what’s been called “The Mississippi Miracle.”

“It's not a miracle. It's hard work over a long period of time,” Wright said during the October 2023 press conference.

The same year Wright started in Mississippi, the state passed a law mandating every third-grade student must read at grade level before moving to fourth grade. These laws are often called third-grade reading retention policies. They say, if a student cannot read at grade level, they either repeat third grade or receive interventions to catch up.

Project Baltimore looked at federal test scores from 2013, the year the law passed. Mississippi students scored, on average, a 209 in fourth grade reading. The national average was 221.

But by 2022, the most recent year for results, Mississippi had surpassed the national average. Mississippi now scores a 217 in fourth grade reading. The national average sits at 216.

In 2013, Mississippi students scored, on average, a 209 in fourth grade reading. The national average was 221. But by 2022, the most recent year for results, Mississippi had surpassed the national average (WBFF)

According to Education Week, 25 states and the District of Columbia either allow or require districts to hold back students who aren’t reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

“The answer is a balanced approach. If a school really doesn't think a child is ready for fourth grade, then it's not a terrible thing to hold them back,” Mitchell told Project Baltimore. “But they do need extra support when they go through third grade again to make sure that they'll be successful a second time through.”