Ohio Law Will Hold Back Some Third Graders If They Cannot Read

More states are passing laws that make it harder for third graders to move up to fourth grade if they don’t pass a standardized reading test. Most recently Ohio joined Florida and Indiana by enacting such a law.

“If you can’t read you might as well forget it,” said Ohio Governor John Kasich when on June 25 he signed a bill into law that includes a requirement that some third graders be held back if they cannot read at grade level.  Kasich cited research that shows children who cannot read at grade level by the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school before 12^th grade.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports the bill was a compromise between the Republican governor and the Republican-led Senate. Kasich wanted a stricter bill that would hold back all students who could not read at the proficient level, but some GOP legislators thought it was too onerous.

Senate leaders and the governor agreed on a lower threshold that gradually steps up the level of reading required for a child to be promoted to fourth grade as other measures are put in place such as improved teaching standards, more reading intervention, and summer programs.

Since 2003, Florida law requires third graders to pass the state reading test before moving up to fourth grade. So far the data shows third graders are scoring better on reading tests, but the needle has not moved for eighth graders and reading during the same period.