By Christin Nance Lazerus, Post-Tribune
The Indiana General Assembly is considering a bill that would require third-graders be retained until they achieve grade level proficiency in reading.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett will testify in support of Senate Bill 258 in Indianapolis today, but local school officials are concerned that the additional costs could put the squeeze on district budgets.
Starting in the 2012-2013 school year, the bill would require that a student who does not pass the reading portion of the third-grade ISTEP be retained unless there is good cause not to retain the student. Schools would have to provide intensive reading intervention and support to students.
The bill suggests some interventions, such as small group instruction; transition classes with third- and fourth-grade students; an extended school day, week, or year; and summer reading programs.
The bill's financial impact statement said that -- statewide -- districts could spend $8 million on reading assessments and between $17.5 and $24 million on intervention. Some of the intervention costs could be partially funded by using state ISTEP remediation funding.
The bill raises questions for Stacey Schmidt, director of education for Valparaiso Community Schools, which already has intervention programs in place, beginning in kindergarten.
"What would be different about retention? Schmidt asked. "What different interventions would we use?"
Schmidt said it's important to begin intervention at the kindergarten level.
"The gap grows as they get older," she said.
Of Valparaiso's 500 third-graders, 88.4 percent passed the 2008/2009 spring ISTEP language arts tests. That number has grown from 88 percent in the fall semester of 2008/2009 and 86 percent in 2007.
"It's difficult to make blanket statements that all students would be retained. There are good cause exemptions," she said. "We can retain students now if they are not making adequate progress."
Merrillville Community School Corp. Superintendent Tony Lux said the bill would create a need to hire more teachers.
"What's really needed is a fully funded summer school. Kids who are not at grade level need five to six weeks during the summer for additional improvement, not two weeks," Lux said, adding that it also raises the issue of how to pay for it.
"They just lopped off 41/2 percent of our budgets and they'd be creating an unfunded mandate," Lux said.
School districts across the state were forced to trim their 2010 budgets between 3.5 and 4.5 percent due to declining state revenues.
Of Merrillville's 500 third- graders, 70 percent have successfully passed their ISTEP reading tests.
"If they retain students, what if they fail again?" Lux said. "You can't keep kids back forever, because they get older. The real answer is that over time you give them more instructional time to compensate for where they were lacking before."
Gary School Board member Darren Washington said that third grade is a crucial year for students.
"They become vulnerable to peer pressure, and it is the year when you begin to see some behavior problems," Washington said.
Washington can see the merit in not passing students who can't make the grade. In 2009, 63 percent of Gary third- graders passed English/Language Arts ISTEP+.
"What I will be interested to hear is does he have alternative solutions other than keeping them back because that can hurt a child's self-esteem, especially among their peers," Washington said. "I would like to see all-year schooling, situations where we have a well funded program. Most importantly, parents are going to have to take a much stronger, more active role in their child's education."
Staff writer Diane Spivak contributed to this report.