US states meet reading expectations of Grade 3 students: NPR

Changes in education policy often come from the federal government. Think Common Core, set of standards established in 2010 for what American students should know. But a policy that has spread throughout the country does not come from Washington, DC, but from Florida. "Mandatory retention" requires third-year students who do not demonstrate sufficient reading skills to repeat. This was part of a broader set of reforms proposed by the former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, in 2002.

At present, 19 states have adopted this policy, in part because Bush has conducted it fiercely. All children whose reading test scores are poor are not retained: in general, students with special needs and children who have been living in Canada for less than two years are exempt. And studies have shown that early literacy skills of a child can have long-term consequences. According to a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, one in six students who do not read well in grade four do not finish school. This rate is four times higher than that of a competent reader.

At the same time, forcing children to repeat is a stigma and can affect their self-esteem. Several studies have shown that failing a grade makes it much more likely that students would not graduate from high school. Some parents and educators organized themselves against mandatory detention and encouraged children to take high-stakes exams. A group of parents in Florida unsuccessfully challenged the policy in court.

Professor Marty West of Harvard found that there were positive short-term results for incarcerated children in Florida. They perform better in mathematics and reading and are less likely to be retained in the future. However, these benefits disappear over time: Repeating the third year under Florida's mandatory conservation law makes it no more or less likely that a student will graduate from high school. West believes that this can be viewed positively, because the historic failure of a note has been a powerful predictor of dropping out.

Florida law also provided for millions of dollars for helpers such as reading coaches and summer sessions. Professor Nell Duke of the University of Michigan points out that the short-term gains could be due to these interventions rather than to the retention of children.

Oklahoma adopted mandatory retention in 2014. This policy has not been accompanied by significant public investment in its schools; in fact, it has one of the lowest per-student spending rates in the country. And yet, in the past 20 years, he has created one of the most comprehensive pre-K public programs in the country. Seventy-three percent of 4-year-olds are enrolled.

Policies such as mandatory retention force teachers to have students read earlier. Melanie Metter, a kindergarten teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the student population is predominantly Latin American, explains school experience and their first year in English ".

On the other hand, attending a high quality kindergarten can be a boon, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Next to Rosa Parks is an early childhood center run by the Community Action Project. This is one of the many sites run by non-profit organizations in the Tulsa area. The CAP only accepts students whose families are very poor and keeps a long list of waiting. And although it is funded with state and federal resources, it is also supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which has invested heavily in early childhood education in the state.

By visiting the school, it becomes apparent that preschool education can help prepare children for elementary school. The number of students per class is limited in the school. There is a maximum of 20 students in the classrooms of 4-year-olds and the number is even lower for the younger ones. Each class also has two teachers.

The CAP also encourages parents to promote literacy at home. At an event called "Breakfast with Books and Dad", families are invited to eat granola, fruit and yogurt before classes begin. Books are scattered around the room and families can take them home.

In the spring, at breakfast, Hector Peña read on a carpet with his 3-year-old son, questioning him about colors. "Where are you?he asks his son What color is it? "¡Amarillo!"(yellow) his son responds.

Diane Horm, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Oklahoma, explains that programs such as CAP may seem like an anomaly in Oklahoma. "The fact that it is the state of Oklahoma – which has the reputation of struggling with public education and other social services – setting up this program is kind of of unique contrast, "she says.

Pedro Noguera, a professor at UCLA, who has studied the experience of colored students in the public school system, is frustrated with Oklahoma's approach of increasing student expectations without investing more in students. schools. As he points out, when children from well-to-do families have difficulty reading, their parents can call in outside specialists who offer intensive and personalized services. "It starts with diagnosing the need for learning," says Noguera. "And then develop a response tailored to that child's needs." Poor families can not afford that.

Noguera sees a disconnect in rising expectations and uneven funding of schools. "We often hold children accountable," he says. "In this case, with retention.We hold the teachers responsible for not raising the test results.But the state legislature does not hold itself responsible for setting up the resources necessary for the schools to meet to the learning needs of children. "

Independent journalist Alexandra Starr has reported this article as a Spencer Fellow in Education Reporting at the Columbia Journalism School.