The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette
It’s noteworthy to see the state supermajority pushing for the retention of more third-grade students who do not meet reading standards.
At first glance, it appears to be a positive step. Third grade is a critical period for young students as their reading literacy level determines future success or failure, especially for low-income students. Research shows that low-income students who enter fourth grade without adequate reading skills are more likely to drop out of school. Keeping struggling third graders back one more year to prepare them for the future seems like common sense.
According to the National Council for Adult Learning, adults’ low skill levels related to low literacy cost $225 billion in workforce non- productivity, lost tax revenue and crime.
However, results that show 1 out of 5 third graders failed to pass the 2023 IREAD 3 tests are skewed because they include English Language Learners and special education students who test lower than their counterparts. Adjusting for those students would still mean more than 8,000 children could have repeated third grade this year.
Fort Wayne Community Schools retained three third graders last year. They joined the 409 other Hoosiers retained, while 95% moved on.
The GOP will go after the exemptions allowed to move students forward despite having a reading deficit.
“There have been exceptions created, and the exceptions have gotten broader and broader and broader,” House Speaker Todd Huston said at last month’s Organization Day speech, which previews legislative goals. The GOP has an ally in Katie Jenner, the state’s secretary of education.
Great, but without context, numbers can be bandied about in a way that may be politically advantageous for a few but inarguably destructive for Hoosier students and their parents.
FWCS does not carelessly pass on students, said Krista Stockman, the district’s director of communications and marketing. The district has embraced the Science of Reading, an explicit and systematic reading instruction program backed by the Indiana Department of Education. It has added supplemental resources and instruction that align with the reading program.
“Our primary focus is to ensure students are learning and progressing academically each year,” she said. “That doesn’t always mean they are reaching the state’s standards. Because many students living in poverty begin school often years behind their middle- and upper-income peers, it takes time for them to reach the same achievement levels. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t learning or they aren’t making great gains.”
There is evidence that retaining students in the third grade can be beneficial. In a 2017 paper published in the Journal of Public Economics, researchers concluded that student retention “increases students’ grade point average and leads them to take fewer remedial courses.” However, it does not affect their probability of graduating.
But it would heed legislators to consider the socioeconomic and racial determinants of reading from the IREAD data. There are clear gaps.
We’re not advocating for lower standards. But the inequities between groups are so pronounced that not discussing it would be absurd, bordering on conscious irresponsibility.
What we are advocating is that the supermajority look closely at recommendations from groups that have taken a serious look at race and socioeconomic gaps and offer policy ideas.
For example, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s National Working Group on Advanced Education released policy recommendations that create learning environments that achieve accurate equity.
One of the recommendations echoes what Hoosier educators, advocates and this board have pushed for years: “Provide accessible front-loading programming — either to all students or to those from historically underrepresented groups — starting in pre-K or Kindergarten.”
Early childhood advocates have presented numerous studies highlighting high-quality universal pre-K programs that dramatically reduce or even wipe out reading achievement gaps between socioeconomic and racial groups.
“We are increasing the number of pre-K programs we have in our schools because the earlier we can start working with students who are behind, the faster they will catch up,” Stockman said.
We’re happy literacy is on the table. But to benefit Hoosier children, this discussion must have the appropriate context. The stakes are too high to have it deteriorate into a circus of sleepy cliches and arrogant huffery puffery.
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