Over 10,000 Alabama 3rd graders may be held back due to reading law

Robert Besser
21 Sep 2023, 08:40 GMT+10

Alabama's school chief, Superintendent Eric Mackey, said that under new reading benchmarks to move to fourth grade, 10,000 or more third graders could be held back this summer
Alabama lawmakers delayed the law's implementation to give students and schools the time to recover from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
More than 50,000 students will need to reach the score before they can advance to fourth grade

MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Last week, Alabama's school chief, Superintendent Eric Mackey, said that under new reading benchmarks to move to fourth grade, which will come into force this year, 10,000 or more third graders could be held back this summer.

Alabama lawmakers delayed the law's implementation to give students and schools the time to recover from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 50,000 students will need to reach the score before they can advance to fourth grade.

"This is the year that will happen with these current third-graders," Mackey said last week.

Under the Alabama Literacy Act, which was approved by lawmakers in 2019, third-grade students must make a minimum score on the state's standardized reading assessment or otherwise demonstrate mastery of all relevant state reading standards through a portfolio.

In August, Governor Kay Ivey said she opposed any further delay of the retention provision.

Mackey said it is difficult to estimate how many students would be retained under that score, but he estimated between 10,000 and 12,000.

That does not mean they would all be required to repeat third grade because some of them would go to summer school and retake the test, while others would be promoted through a reading portfolio assessment, he added.

However, as they believed it was too low, three school board members voted against setting the score at the level recommended by Mackey.

"We are doing a great disservice if we set the bar too low," board member Stephanie Bell said.

The board could consider resetting the score next year.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Hawaii Telegraph.

More Information

21 ℃

Mostly Cloudy in Honolulu

International

Section

Heavy snowfall, blizzards reported in Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria

CHISINAU, Moldova: Over the weekend, heavy snowfall and strong blizzards in Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria left one person dead and ...

House Ethics Committee report results in Santos expulsion

WASHINGTON D.C.: After a House Ethics Committee report found substantial evidence that he broke the law, New York Republican representative ...

Israel had blueprint of 7 October attack plan - The New York Times

In a report by The New York Times, it has been revealed that Israeli officials had obtained a detailed battle ...

Myanmar ethnic group alliance captures trade gate on Chinese border

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Kyar Win, spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which launched a surprise offensive last month against ...

U.S. backs Israel's restart of earth-shattering war in Gaza

While Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been frantically shuttling around the Middle East trying to stop the Israeli coflict ...

12 crew members reported missing as Cargo ship sinks off Greek island

LESBOS, Greece: Greek authorities said a cargo ship sank off the island of Lesbos over the weekend during a storm, ...

Business

Section