One day, one test: Learning from the Mississippi Miracle
Students arrive while being cheered on at Belle Forest Elementary for the first day of school. A total of 37 states joined the third-grade retention brigade, with a goal of having students reading “proficiently” by the end of third grade. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)
In partnership with
The Institute for Public Service Reporting
The Institute for Public Service Reporting is based at the University of Memphis and supported financially by U of M, private grants and donations made through the University Foundation. Its work is published by The Daily Memphian through a paid-use agreement.
The third-grade retention law that goes into effect in Tennessee beginning with this school is part of a trend.
In some ways, that trend started 20 years ago with the passage of The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002. It required states to test the reading and math skills of every student every year — starting in third grade.
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 — or held back — if they flunk their state’s reading test.
One day, one test
Thousands of third-grade students in traditional public and charter schools in the Memphis area could be held back in the summer of 2023 as a result of a new Tennessee law focused on standardized reading tests. But similar laws in states across the country have shown mixed results. And in Tennessee, the law gives more power to a testing system whose methodology is widely questioned, whose approach largely ignores children with learning disabilities and emotional and socioeconomic challenges, and whose approach to scoring leaves experts frustrated and confused.
Read the full series:
New reading retention law goes into effect this month
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
The results have been mixed, with advocates highlighting increased reading scores among some students, and critics lamenting a system that has created many problems.
Mississippi miracle or mirage?
“There’s a lot of ways to raise your (NAEP) test scores, and one way is to just make sure that kids that can’t pass it don’t take it,” Maryville City Schools Director Mike Winstead said after the new laws were passed in 2021.
Winstead is one of many school leaders who see problems with the state’s new third-grade retention policy.
“It’s about keeping the kids in third grade so that they don’t take the fourth grade NAEP test so that your NAEP scores look better and you have a ‘Mississippi miracle,’ ” Winstead said in 2021.
The “Mississippi Miracle” is a reference to a dramatic increase in that state’s NAEP reading scores since 2013.
That’s the year Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed four education reform bills, including mandatory third-grade retention for students who flunk the state’s third-grade reading test.
Since then, Mississippi’s fourth graders have shown dramatic gains in reading scores in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 NAEP tests. From 2017-2019, for example, the state’s average fourth-grade reading score rose four points, more than any other state.
Since 2013, when then-Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed four education reform bills, the state’s fourth graders saw dramatic gains in reading scores on the 2015, 2017 and 2019 NAEP tests. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP file)
But skeptics point out that Mississippi retains a higher percentage of third graders than any other state — about 10% statewide and up to 40% in some counties.
By comparison, Florida retained 14% of its third graders the first year, but retention rates have leveled off to about 8% annually since then.
(Both states suspended retention policies for the 2020-2021 school year due to COVID-19.)
Florida’s average fourth-grade reading scores have increased seven points overall to 225 since its third-grade retention policy was instituted in 2003.
Mississippi’s has increased 10 points to 219, the national average, since it began retaining third-graders in 2013.
Tennessee’s increased five points after its initial third-grade retention policy was passed in 2011, but has since fallen a point to 219.
“Holding back low-performing third graders creates the illusion of huge one-time testing gains, and implementation of the bill would take place just in time for the 2023 NAEP tests,” Amy Frogge, former Nashville school board member, texted after the law was passed in 2021. “This is not about best serving the children of Tennessee; it’s about gaming the system.”
Even advocates for the new laws say third-grade retentions only partially explain Mississippi’s rising reading scores.
“After being held back, (students) receive a variety of supports, including ‘intensive reading intervention’ and being assigned to a high-performing teacher,” the Fordham Institute reported in 2019. “Assuming that those policies improve their achievement, they should certainly score better once reaching fourth grade than they otherwise would have.”
Tennessee’s new retention law 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 in fourth grade can avoid retention.
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.
The Florida experience
Florida’s third-grade retention law was signed in 2002 by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Since that time, studies have shown the policy was applied inequitably. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP file)
In 2002, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed a law requiring third graders to be retained if they flunked the state’s reading test.
Since then, studies showed that Florida’s retention policy was applied inequitably.
Students of color, English learners, students with disabilities and boys, in general, were more likely to be held back. So were students whose mothers have less than a high-school degree.
But advocates for retention policies argue that those inequities merely reflect the reality that students from homes with lower incomes and education levels struggle more in school.
They also argue that early-grade retention helps, not harms.
Repeating third grade improves that student’s preparedness for high school and performance while enrolled in school, according to a 2017 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The study followed 75,000 students who had been retained under the Florida law beginning in 2003.
The retained students experienced substantial short-term gains in both math and reading achievement.
They were less likely to be retained in a later grade and better prepared when they entered high school. They took fewer remedial courses in high school and improved their grade point averages.
Being held back delayed their graduation from high school but did not reduce their probability of graduating or enrolling in post-secondary education.
“Third-grade retention in Florida has no impact on student absences or special education classifications,” wrote Martin West, a Harvard University education professor.
Read the full series:
New reading retention law goes into effect this month
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
Topics
third grade retention third graders TNReady National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP No Child Left Behind Mississippi miracle Gov. Phil Bryant Gov. Jeb BushIn partnership with
The Institute for Public Service Reporting is based at the University of Memphis and supported financially by U of M, private grants and donations made through the University Foundation. Its work is published by The Daily Memphian through a paid-use agreement.
David Waters
David Waters is Distinguished Journalist in Residence and assistant director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.