Tennessee’s toughened third-grade retention law, passed in early 2021, goes into effect this month.

Third graders in public schools who “flunk” next spring’s TNReady reading test — and generally two-thirds of them in Tennessee do — are eligible to be retained in third grade next year.

What does it mean to be “retained?” It’s what most people call being held back a grade.

While much focus is put on the test results of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the problem is not unique to Memphis. Fully two-thirds of Tennessee’s third graders — about 50,000 children — flunk the TNReady reading test.

Third grade will be more complicated this year.

The new law is raising the pressure on students, teachers, schools and districts to improve Tennessee’s low reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The NAEP, given every other year to fourth- and eighth-grade students, is the standard by which all states are compared on the Nation’s Report Card. About 65% of Tennessee’s fourth graders are reading below “proficient” levels on the NAEP. Tennessee’s score hasn’t improved since 2013.

“We are proposing a third-grade reading gate, which means that we make sure students are prepared before we pass them through to the fourth grade,” Gov. Bill Lee told legislators when he introduced the tougher retention proposal in January 2021.

But Tennessee’s new retention law also raises questions and concerns about its purpose and efficacy.

The Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis examined the state’s new third-grade retention policy, as well as similar policies across the country, a range of research on their effectiveness, and concerns raised by educators.

Among the concerns:

• The unfairness of retaining an 8-year-old child based on one test score from an annual standardized achievement test that is subjectively scored, inconsistently administered and widely questioned.
• Misperceptions that TNReady and other standardized achievement tests measure “grade level” performance, and misunderstandings about what reading at “grade level” and “proficient” reading really mean.
• Studies that show elementary school retentions are counterproductive and even harmful, can widen achievement gaps, and disproportionately impact students of color.
• The failure of third-grade retention policies to address students with learning disabilities, which is the cause of many if not most reading deficiencies.
• The sheer number of third graders who could be retained because they “flunk” the annual TNReady reading test — 64% statewide in 2021-2022 and fully 77% of third graders in Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS).

Key takeaways from SCS’ standardized testing results

Why third grade?

Third grade is hard.

In its Guide to Third Grade, the education publisher Scholastic explains, “In third grade, students progress from practicing basic skills to mastering them, and move on to develop more complex skills.”

What are these complex skills?

Skills such as learning how to multiply, divide and estimate.

Topics such as basic molecular science and U.S. history.

Tasks such as reading and analyzing longer nonfiction texts and fictional chapter books.

“After mastering basic literacy skills in earlier grades, third graders become better and more independent readers,” Scholastic explains. “Third-grade reading focuses on teaching kids how to think and talk about what they read in deeper and more detailed ways.”

Teachers skeptical of summer learning camps’ ‘promising results’

Children who struggle to read in third grade are more likely to struggle academically — and otherwise — as they grow older.

The consequences are profound. These struggling 8-year-olds are four times more likely to drop out of high school. And, studies show, they are much more likely to experience delinquency, unemployment, violence and incarceration.

“The ability to read by third grade is critical to a child’s success in school, life-long earning potential and their ability to contribute to the nation’s economy and its security,” the Annie E. Casey Foundation concluded in “Early Warning,” a 2010 special report on third-grade reading.

Because early-childhood education is so critical to the academic and personal success of children, the federal government began pushing states to adopt more rigorous learning standards for all grades beginning in the 1990s.

But there was a special focus on third grade.

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, required states to test the reading and math skills of every student every year — starting in third grade.

That same year, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, signed a law requiring third graders to be retained if they flunked the state’s reading test.

Since then, 37 states — including Tennessee — have joined the third-grade retention brigade, passing laws aimed at making sure students are reading “proficiently” by the end of third grade.

Twenty of those states, including Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, require third graders to be retained if they flunk their state’s reading test.

Tennessee’s original third-grade retention law was passed in 2011, but it was vaguely worded and rarely enforced.

But in 2021, Gov. Lee and Republican legislators revised the law. They linked retention directly to a third grader’s reading score on the annual TNReady achievement tests.

Which is why so many third graders in the Memphis area are at risk of being held back at the end of this year.

Third-grade goals putting SCS teachers to the test

Retention policies highlight disparities — and carry risk

Tennessee’s new retention law does offer alternatives to being held back for third-graders who fail the test. It establishes “a full-time tutoring corps, after-school camps, learning loss bridge camps and summer learning camps” for struggling third-grade readers, and promises “reading interventions and supports for students who are identified as ‘at risk’ for a significant reading deficiency.”

A student who “demonstrates adequate growth” in the summer camps, or who accepts and completes approved after-school tutoring in fourth grade can avoid retention.

Those alternatives are critically important. Studies show that holding back a student carries incredible risks to the child. And studies show that there are serious disparities when it comes to the backgrounds of children being retained.

Roughly 10% of U.S. public school students are retained at least once between kindergarten and eighth grade.

But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that children are most successful when they are supported to advance grade levels with their peers while the reasons behind their lack of progress are addressed.

Repeating a grade can be considered an adverse childhood experience (ACE). In one study, sixth-grade students rated having to repeat a grade as “the most stressful life event.”

Pressure is on SCS to fulfill pledge, close third-grade literacy gap

Elementary students who are held back a year rarely show long-term academic progress, according to a number of studies over the years.

Several studies showed that achievement gaps between retained and non-retained students only widen.

Retained students are five times more likely to drop out of school, and more likely to have problems with aggressive behavior and to get into trouble.

Students of color and poverty, and especially boys, are disproportionately more likely to be held back.

In 2016, 8% of children from households with incomes at or below the federal poverty level repeated a grade compared to 3% of children from higher-income households.

Read the full series:

Suburban superintendents wary of retention law
Why some children struggle to read
Learning from the Mississippi Miracle
How the new retention law overlooks children with learning disabilities
Keeping score isn’t as easy as 1, 2, 3