Who should decide which Oak Ridge third graders move on to fourth grade?

The Oak Ridge Board of Education, along with other school boards across the state, are asking Tennessee legislators to amend a law that calls for third graders who can't read at their grade level to be retained and not promoted to fourth grade with their classmates.

Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and state Rep. John Ragan, both from Oak Ridge, said the law will likely be revisited by legislators, but they indicated - when contacted by The Oak Ridger - that they support the law as it now stands.

The city school board members adopted a resolution at their meeting last week that voices their opposition to the law, saying "it makes only one piece of data to make crucial and life-altering retention decisions for most third-grade Tennessee students."

The legislation - which went into effect this school year - states that the third-grade student can't be promoted to fourth grade unless the student makes an "on track" or "mastered" performance level on the English language arts portion of the most recent Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test." The resolution also notes that "special education students, any students suspected of having a disability, formerly retained students, students who attend summer school, and/or students participating in a year-long All Corps tutoring program" are exempt from this retention mandate.

The resolution states the Tennessee legislature has made it apparent that parents should "possess a strong voice in their child's education through privatization efforts, including vouchers and charter schools, but that very same General Assembly has not provided Tennessee parents the same authority with retention decisions."

Oak Ridge School Board Chairman Keys Fillauer said the board would make sure the resolution was given to the appropriate officials, including legislators that represent the Oak Ridge area, as well as others, in hopes that the resolution would lead to change.

The Oak Ridge School Board's resolution states that the school system follows best practices that shows grade level retention often has "significantly detrimental effect" on a child. Also, that it believes parents have "strong voices regarding their child's educational path, and should still be granted input regardingretention decisions." It further states that similar legislation in other states has had to be amended because the original mandate showed no long-term success.

McNally and Ragan respond, oppose the change

McNally said the intent behind the law was to get kids to certain reading skill level at a critical point in their education.

“While I am sensitive to local concerns about the law, the bar set by the General Assembly is not a high one,"McNally stated by email when contacted about the resolution. "It is reasonable to expect third grade students to have a rudimentary level of proficiency in reading before advancing. Some degree of social promotion based on progress may be acceptable, but there has to be a limit. While I am open to working with those who have concerns about the law, I believe the third-grade reading level requirement to be a reasonable and achievable expectation for students to meet at an early age so they do not continue to fall behind as they move on to middle and high school.”

In a lengthy emailed response to the news organization, Ragan pointed out that continuing to take the same actions and expect different results is insanity. He said 66% of Tennessee's third graders are not reading at grade level according to the most recent TCAP results.

"According to a number of published, peer-reviewed, academic studies, there is a 'devastating' impact on a third-grader not reading on grade level. This impact is statistically tied to life-long poverty, as well as our state’s long-term economy.

"Moreover, these studies correlate third-graders not reading on grade level with future drop-out rates, justice system involvement, teen pregnancy, welfare rates," he said, as well as them having to take remedial classes in college.

The same message has been sent to the state legislature by school boards throughout the state such as Anderson, Blount and Williamson counties, according to a Knox News story. Right now, third-graders must repeat the grade or participate in intensive tutoring if they fail to pass the reading section of the TCAP.

Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization that reports on education issues, said revisiting the third-grade reading law is expected to top the list of education priorities in this session of the legislature.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed. Support The Oak Ridger by subscribing Offers available at https://subscribe.oakridger.com/offers.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Who should decide when Oak Ridge third graders get held back?