Three strikes and you’re out. That’s the rule for baseball, but it shouldn’t be the rule when it comes to our youth.
However, that would be the case with Senate Bill 1, authored by state Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger. While it’s been dubbed the “Every Child Learns to Read Bill,” which might sound beneficial, a deeper look reveals problems with the bill.
SB1, which passed the Committee on Appropriations on Thursday, would require IREAD testing to begin in second grade, one year earlier than in the past, and it would allow those who pass to be exempt from taking the test again in the future.
Students who do not pass would receive targeted support during third grade to help them improve their reading skills.
Following a full year of remediation and three chances to take the IREAD test, lawmakers want schools to hold back students who do not pass the test by the end of third grade.
Three chances and they’re out. This seems pretty harsh in that it would mandate a decision that could be traumatic for a student who should be going into fourth grade.
Fortville Elementary School principal Vincent Edwards, who has studied Indiana’s retention policies in depth, expressed concern about holding back a student and told the ICC it should be the “absolute last resort” for struggling readers.
“There is a 60-year body of research around retention that has shown lots of negative impacts, especially social and emotional, for those students who are involved,” Edwards told the ICC. “As a principal, I’ve been a part of decisions to retain students before, and that is an extremely high-stakes decision for those students and those families.”
SB1 also mandates summer school be offered to students who are not reading up to par in third grade or to second graders who are at risk to be held back. However, the bill does not require students to participate in those summer school sessions.
It doesn’t seem very helpful to offer extra services — right before it’s too late — and not make it mandatory for a student to use those services, particularly considering that a repeat of third grade would be mandatory for students who don’t pass IREAD.
Sue Loughlin of the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute) reported in January that the bill does make some attempts to help struggling students before it’s too late. For example, policies would be put in place to provide extra support to those in kindergarten and first grade who are not on track to read proficiently by the end of third grade.
The Indiana Department of Education would establish standards to help schools identify these students, who would then be given an assessment to identify areas for additional support.
Keri Miksza, Indiana Coalition for Public Education chair, told the Indiana Daily Student she does not think retention is something to “double down on” at the state level, when it should be based on a discussion involving educators and parents and that “legislators need to slow the roll on this, because it’s children.”
SB1 should be focused more on taking steps to help every child learn to read and less on holding them back.
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