Alabama has long struggled to achieve desired academic benchmarks for its public school students. In an effort to address this issue, the Alabama Legislature passed the Literacy Act in 2019, which requires students to meet specific reading-related goals before advancing to the next grade. The enforcement of this bill was delayed until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of the law’s implementation, more than 1,800 Alabama students are repeating third grade this school year after failing to meet the required benchmarks. However, under the “good cause” provision of the act, some students may still be promoted to fourth grade.
In remarks to state board of education members this week, Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey emphasized the importance of addressing retention early in a student’s academic journey.
“The later students are retained, the worse the social outcome,” said Mackey. “That’s why third grade isn’t considered the beginning. It’s kind of the last effort.”
Mackey anticipates that the number of retained students will decrease, though final figures won’t be available until mid-September.
“Some of those students will be promoted anyway because of their special education status or because of a portfolio, so I think the actual retentions will be somewhere below 5%. We will not have the final numbers until September 16 but we think it will land around 5%.”
Initially, Mackey and the Department of Education estimated that about 9% of the state’s third graders would need to repeat the grade, a number that has since been significantly reduced.
Sandardized test scores from the spring indicated that 4,808 students did not meet the required score. These students were offered the opportunity to attend summer reading camps and retake the test.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
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