Bill would hold back 3rd graders

INDIANAPOLIS (AP/WANE) -- - Youngsters who can't read at the third-grade level by the time they finish third grade would not move on to fourth grade under a bill read at the Indiana statehouse Wednesday.

State Superintendent Tony Bennett supports the proposal, which would provide struggling students with intensive reading intervention to help them catch up. Speaking to the Senate Education and Career Development Committee Wednesday Bennett said the bill's really about success. 

"If we don't teach [students] to read at the primary level, we're setting them up to fail in middle school and high school," Bennett said.

Fellow Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels also supports the bill and mentioned it as a priority in his State of the State address Tuesday. The Indiana Department of Education said 24 percent of third graders failed the English/Language Arts section of the ISTEP.

Third graders held back would have intensive reading intervention to help them get back up to their grade level.

Under the proposal, exemptions could be made for certain students, such as those with disabilities or those who have been previously held back for two or more years.

But, the bill may have already met its first bump in the road. Republican Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville said the bill comes with such a large price that he doesn't see how the Senate could pass it this year. It's unclear exactly how much the proposal would cost, but some of the remediation efforts included in the bill would run upwards of $20 million.

Wednesday night, Bennett issued this statement in response to the funding issues:

"While I understand some may have fiscal concerns with the legislation, I believe taxpayers provide schools funding to teach children. Asking schools to realign their resources to support this critical foundation for educational success only makes sense. As we have directed the Department’s resources and time to focus on early childhood reading, I am sure schools will do the same successfully," Bennett said.

Bennett said his goal for the bill would be to have more third graders pass the ISTEP on their first try and not have to make them repeat third grade.

Students spend around 4,000 hours in school from Kindergarten to third grade and Bennett said most of that time needs to be spent on reading and reading activities.

"Let's do it right the first time with more qualified teachers spending time teaching reading," he said. "This is about shifting resources and addressing the fundamentals that are vital to academic success."

Kruse and Bennett said the key is getting good reading skills at the third grade level because that is when reading changes for students. From Kindergarten to third grade students are in the "learn to read" stage of developing the fundamental building blocks to good reading. From fourth grade up, students are "reading to learn," Bennett explained.

"If they haven't mastered the foundation of a third grade level, they'll struggle as they try to read to learn," he said.

In Allen County, about 1,100 students would have been affected by this bill last spring. According to the Department of Education's website, in Southwest Allen County Schools, 12 percent, or 61 third graders, didn't pass the Language Arts part of the ISTEP. In Northwest Allen County Schools, 14 percent, or 70 students, didn't pass. In East Allen County Schools 179 students, or 26 percent, failed and in Fort Wayne Community Schools, 33 percent, or 790 students, didn't pass.

"To make a decision for an eight or nine-year-old based on one test given with time limits bothers me," Gloria Shamanoff, Assistant Superintendent for Northwest Allen County Schools said. "I would like us to be more broadminded."

Shamanoff said she'd like students to be evaluated on an individual basis and take several factors into account before holding them back.

"One number on a test score won't be sufficient," she said.

Shamanoff, and East Allen County Superintendent Karyle Green, suggested summer school or other help before holding students back.

"Retention doesn't do much except correlate in a negative way in graduation rate unless there is a good intervention program in place. That is key," Green said.

If students are held back, it could create challenges for the districts.

"If the number of third graders is up, then the number of teachers needs to go up, the space you need, the text book allocations. It would be a challenge for districts to handle such an influx at one grade level," Green said. "We need to do a better job identifying students not at grade level and do a better job having programs in place to get them there."

Bennett said that would be part of the bill. Students in K-3 would have yearly assessments to try and identify students struggling before the third grade ISTEP comes.

In Allen County struggling students and their parents can get free help to learn how to read through Allen County Education Partnership. The non-profit's been helping students in K-3 learn to read since 1991.