A Failure by 3rd Grade

 A Failure by 3^rd Grade

 

Generally, kids are fairly successful readers with good word attack skills by the end of third grade.   Good thing too, because in fourth grade reading begins to be used to acquire information in other subject areas.

But what happens to kids who are not successful readers by the end of third grade.  Well, that depends on whom you ask.

Some folks believe those children should pass on to fourth grade and receive remedial work to catch up on those reading skills.  Other people have taken a different approach.

There is a very strong movement to retain children in 3^rd grade if they are not up to grade standard in reading by that time.   The wisdom behind this approach is that the children will learn more both from the repeat and from increased maturity.   A policy to retain third graders in 3^rd grade was presented to the Maryland State Board of Education at its recent meeting.  There were both strong support and strong concerns.

Those in support of the measure argued that without basic reading skills, children would not progress in the other academic areas as they moved into the intermediate grades.    It was also argued that some children perhaps because of immaturity or just needing more time would do better if they had another run at basic reading.

Folks in opposition to the plan countered that it wasn’t the kids’ fault if they failed to gain the required skills in reading.  It could be lack of support from parents.  Or it could be poor teaching on the part of the teacher.  Maybe both.  Why make the children suffer for the failure of others.

Both sides argued that their position would create more high school graduates.  The side for retaining said that sending children into fourth grade with good reading would ensure future academic success and thereby foster graduation.

The side against retaining said that failure at such a young age would forever embarrass the child and make school a place they would want to get out of and make him/her always too old for each grade peer group.

Then there was the elephant in the room.  What if a second run at third grade didn’t work either?  How many times would a child be retained.

Maryland is about to be knee deep in the “science of reading”, a method that puts heavy emphasis on phonic-based word attack.   In the plans, for children to be retained there is no mention of switching to a different method for the rerun, just exactly that, a re-run of what failed the previous year.  

Whatever your reasoning, eight years old seems very young to be a failure.