Posted on 07/16/24
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - July 16, 2024 - When it comes to children learning how to read, most experts agree the pivotal year is third grade.
Now, Maryland is considering a policy which would require third graders be able to read at grade level before moving to fourth grade.
Dr. Carey Wright has big plans as Maryland State Superintendent of Schools. But in her first year, she’s starting small.
“I think you can identify little ones that are struggling very young,” Wright told Project Baltimore during an interview in March.
Early Childhood literacy is a main focus of Dr. Wright and the Maryland State Department of Education. A newly drafted literacy policy introduced by MSDE would implement a reading intervention program for some of the state’s youngest learners.
The policy calls for students in kindergarten through third grade to be screened three times a year to monitor their literacy progress.
That means if your student is falling behind you would be notified almost immediately, and they would be given help to catch up.
The policy would also mandate students in third grade read at grade level before moving to fourth.
“What children don't need is just another year of third grade. They need something very different.”
Through the end of this week, July 19, MSDE is asking the public to weigh in on the drafted policy. If approved, Maryland, according to Education Week, would join at least 25 states and the District of Columbia in either allowing or requiring districts to hold back students who aren’t reading proficiently by the end of third grade.
“There's a lot that goes into a retention policy,” Wright told Project Baltimore.
Third grade reading policies are familiar to Wright. From 2013 to 2022, she served as the State Superintendent of Education in Mississippi which has a reading retention policy. And it appears to have worked.
According to federal test scores known as NAEP, in 2013, the year its reading retention law was passed, Mississippi students scored on average a 209 in fourth grade reading, which was far below the national average of 221. It was even farther behind Maryland at 232. But by 2022, the most recent year for results, Mississippi had passed Maryland and the national average.
Maryland currently ranks 40 in the country on NAEP but is aiming to be in the top 10 by 2027.
Emily Mitchell is with Sylvan Learning, based in Baltimore County. Mitchell says the importance of children reading at grade level by third grade has been understood for years. Because many children, she says, who fall behind by third grade never catch up.
“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 they're close to third grade level, they'll be okay. But if they're not, it has honestly lifelong effects.”
A 2011 report from the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation cited by MSDE found that students who don’t read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a high school diploma.
Opponents of third grade reading retention policies argue that holding students back introduces new social and emotional challenges, and that these policies can disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families. But advocates believe challenging teachers to get students reading proficiently by third grade helps ensure that more kids will be prepared.
“We need to make sure that all of those teachers have the skill sets that they need to diagnose those kinds of issues and the skill sets that they need to intervene in a very early age,” said Wright.