Reading Test-Based Third-Grade Retention Policies: What Does North Carolina's Read to Achieve Really Achieve?

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-6 - State Policy Making Around Testing and Accountability

Abstract

Prompted by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 which mandates yearly testing in reading and math starting in the third grade, dozens of states have recently implemented reading test-based third-grade promotion policies. North Carolina’s Read to Achieve policy, which aims to have all public school students in North Carolina reading proficiently by the end of third grade, provides an example of this type of legislation. A critical policy analysis of Read to Achieve shows that questions remain about the efficacy of retention and the decision to retain or promote based on reading test scores, how various communities of meaning interacted with the policy, and the disproportionate effect of such policies on low-income students and students of color.

Authors

• Rachel Anne Levy, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Whitney Sherman Newcomb, Virginia Commonwealth University