An estimated 1,800 Alabama students will repeat third grade because of low reading scores under a new state promotion requirement, the education superintendent said Thursday. The high-stakes requirement of the 2019 Alabama Literacy Act, which mandates that third graders meet reading benchmarks to move to fourth grade, is taking effect this year. State lawmakers delayed implementation until this year to give students and schools time to recover from pandemic-related learning losses. The requirement only applies to students in public schools.
Superintendent Eric Mackey on Thursday gave a presentation to state school board members about the number of students facing retention. An estimated 1,832 third graders will be held back and repeat third grade. Mackey said the numbers are preliminary. Schools will report their final numbers next month.
Mackey said if students must be held back that it is better to do it in the earlier grades.
"The later students are retained, the worse the social outcome. Third grade is not considered the beginning. It's kind of the last effort," Mackey said.
The 2019 law requires third graders to make a minimum score on the state's standardized reading assessment or otherwise demonstrate mastery of third grade state reading standards through a portfolio. Students can also be promoted to fourth grade for a "good cause" exemption under the law.
Significantly fewer students are being retained than initially feared.
Standardized test scores from the spring showed that 4,808 students were not meeting the required score. The students were given the opportunity to attend summer reading camps and take the test a second time.
APR reported last year how the number of potential students to be held back could have reached 10,000.
The 2023 report came as the requirement was set to take effect during the last school year. State lawmakers delayed implementation back then to give students and schools time to recover from pandemic-related learning losses. The state Board of Education approved the score that more than 50,000 students will need to reach to advance to fourth grade. State Superintendent Eric Mackey says board members needed to set a new score because the state changed its reading test to align with the latest standards.
"This is the year that will happen with these current third-graders," Superintendent Eric Mackey said Thursday as the Alabama State Board of Education approved the score that more than 50,000 students will need to reach to advance to fourth grade.
Lawmakers in 2019 approved the Alabama Literacy Act that will require third graders to meet reading benchmarks before moving to the fourth grade. Students must make a minimum score on the state's standardized reading assessment or otherwise demonstrate mastery of all third grade state reading standards through a portfolio.
Governor Kay Ivey said last year that she opposed any further delay of the retention provision. Mackey said board members needed to set a new score on the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program because the state changed its reading test to align with the latest standards.
Mackey said in 2023 that it was difficult to estimate how many students would be retained under that score, but he estimated between 10,000 and 12,000.
That doesn't mean they would all be required to repeat third grade, because some of them would go to summer school and take the test again, Mackey said. Others would be promoted through a reading portfolio assessment, he said.
Three board members voted against setting the score at the level Mackey recommended, saying they believed it was too low.
"We're doing a great disservice if we set the bar too low," board member Stephanie Bell said.
The law requires teachers to be retrained in reading instruction, periodic reading testing in kindergarten through third grade, reading coaches to help teachers with their instructional practices and summer reading camps to help get struggling readers up to speed.
