Should kids be held back in third grade if they can’t read?
As of this year, 18 states say yes and impose some form of retention policy linked to a child’s reading scores, according to the advocacy group ExcelInEd. But the question of retention has been hotly debated as a tool to drive reading scores, with Ohio weakening its version in 2023 and Michigan dropping its requirement in 2024.
On one side, research suggests that third grade reading scores are predictive of a student’s likelihood of academic success through middle school and into high school. Children who fall behind in the early years struggle to ever get back on track.