Maryland parents could have the option to stop children from repeating third grade

Third-graders struggling to read won’t necessarily be held back, according to an updated draft literacy policy from the Maryland State Board of Education.

The policy initially mandated that students unable to read at grade level would repeat the third grade, but the revised version allows families to seek a waiver that would permit their students to move into the fourth grade. As part of the waiver process, those families would commit to making sure their child gets additional support, such as summer school programming, before-or-after school tutoring or instructional support outside of the school day.

The kindergarten through third-grade policy focuses on identifying struggling students faster and offering more support in earlier grades. Members of the State Board of Education will discuss the revised policy Tuesday and hear public comments on the proposal. The board could vote to approve the policy as soon as September, with the third-grade retention policy taking effect starting with the 2026-’27 school year.

“This round of revisions reflects extensive public input, and our inclusion of that feedback,” Board President Josh Michael said Friday. “The revision as it relates to promotion reflects a core component of this policy — engaging families — and ensures that families are a part of the promotion decision through the waiver process.”

As part of the August update, students can move on to the fourth grade if they score above 735 on third-grade English on the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.

In recent years, many states have threatened to hold back third graders who struggle to read. According to a January report from the Education Commission of the States, 13 states (plus Washington D.C.) require retention for third graders who are not reading proficiently, and another 13 states allow for such decisions at the local level.

Proponents of the retention policies nationally say they seek to reduce “social promotion” — when students move onto the next grade alongside peers despite not meeting academic standards — and boost literacy. But detractors point to the social downsides of holding kids back, as well as the power that a standardized test would wield on the future of many third graders.

The waiver addition aside, Karen Carroll, a retired teacher who works as a new-teacher mentor for schools in Wicomico County, expressed concern about “unforeseen consequences” from a third-grade retention policy, such as more students being held back resulting in larger classroom sizes. Research has found that, after being retained, students are more likely to have behavior problems or other issues, she said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

“The whole concept, it has bigger ramifications than just whether the child can read,” said Carroll, who is also an adjunct faculty member at Salisbury University.

State Sen. Mary Washington, a Baltimore Democrat who is active in shaping statewide education policy, said she applauds the renewed focus on literacy as a key to both “academic as well as civic life.” But reading comprehension is a complex issue — made even more complicated by the years of the pandemic — and retention should be considered just one strategy that has potentially negative impacts, she said.

“We shouldn’t simply rely on what some people might call ‘social graduation’ — that moving from one grade level to the next grade level is just a matter of time spent in the classroom versus the true acquisition of the skills able to go to each level,” said Washington, who chairs a top Senate education subcommittee. “However, we really do have to consider the social, emotional implications of this.”

Third grade is considered a critical year for reading development, since reading becomes integral for subjects aside from English, such as math and science.

The proficiency rate in literacy for the state’s third graders reached a nine-year high of 48% for the 2022-23 school year, according to the state education department. Scores for the 2023-24 school year will be released Tuesday.

Under the plan, students who are held back in third grade would receive additional reading interventions, such as more dedicated time for reading lessons, small group lessons, frequent monitoring of reading skills, tutoring and a “read at home” plan with reading activities to do with their parents.

“This August meeting is a really important opportunity for us to gather another round of thoughtful feedback on the policy as we prepare to do, potentially, a final round of revisions,” Michael said.

A spokesperson for the Maryland State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said the association would comment on the policy during Tuesday’s meeting, but not before.

Maryland is in the midst of one of the largest education reforms in decades. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a 10-year, multi-billion dollar reform plan, seeks to improve math, literacy and educational equity across the state.

The state board also hired state schools superintendent Carey Wright out of retirement last year after her tenure as Mississippi’s state superintendent, where she is credited for lifting the state’s near-last-place national fourth-grade reading scores to 21st in the country. Since being hired in Maryland on an interim basis in October (and then permanently this year), Wright has implemented a resolution requiring all districts to teach students to read using the science of reading, a method based on scientific research that’s considered the most effective way to teach all students to read.

Wright also focused on the science of reading during her tenure in Mississippi, which is among the several states with a third-grade retention policy. Maryland already has several other policies in place that were used in Mississippi, such as the Ready to Read Act, which screens children in kindergarten through third grade three times per year for reading difficulties and dyslexia.

The draft literacy policy would enforce those requirements and improve the reading interventions given to students who struggle to read.

Those interventions include tutoring, small group instruction, after-school lessons and intensive improvement plans for targeted students. The policy also emphasizes training teachers to address reading deficiencies and adding literacy coaches to help educators.

All local school districts would have to create policies for holding students back or allowing them to go to fourth grade. School board policies should “articulate clear reading instruction and intervention services to address student reading needs” and each student and their family would “be informed of that student’s reading progress,” according to the draft policy.

Wright set a reach goal as part of the policy for Maryland to rank among the top 10 states in reading on fourth and eighth-grade exams by 2027.

Baltimore Sun reporter Sam Janesch contributed to this article.