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I do not agree with the third grade laws. I believe that grade retention is not always appropriate for students and should only be used when it is necessary and beneficial for the child or as a last resort. This is because there is not much supporting evidence to prove that retention is effective and it may remove students from the least restive environment possible. I believe that annual assessments should be given early in a child’s education, like in Colorado, or third grade students should be given various options to demonstrate their proficiency, like in Florida. If retention is necessary, students should receive tutoring and evidence-based strategies to improve their knowledge and skills.

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Several states (AK, MO, TN, WV) are identified as not meeting best practice bc they exempt students who have IEPs. Thoughts on this?

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I believe there are social emotional impacts on the student whether they are retained or not. If they are falling behind their peers academically, they may face decreased self-esteem and ostracism. If they are retained, the outcome could be similar.

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I think retention should be the last resort as its long-term, negative effects on a student have proven to out way the positive ones. It is the school's responsibility to find a way to bridge the gap in the child's education

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In my opinion, I feel as if third grade is very early to deem a child not eligible to move to the next grade level. This law does not put into consideration other factors that go into curriculum.

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In some cases, retention is appropriate, but regarding 3rd graders that lack English proficiency seems a little biased. Are there exceptions for ESL students?

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In some cases, retention is appropriate, but regarding 3rd graders that lack English proficiency seems a little biased. Are there exceptions for ESL students?

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I find it interesting that this retention law states that "exempting all students (from retention) with IEPs can harm students with learning and attention issues". I feel as though students with IEPs/disabilities should be exempt from retention because I don't think that allows them to succeed in their least restrictive environment

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I found this to be an interesting topic, especially as this year, we suggested that 3 kindergarten students in my class be retained due to emotional immaturity as well as not meeting academic standards for grade level. For 2 students, their parents did not agree with our recommendation, so they will be socially promoted. For 1, their parents felt similarly and decided to agree to retention.

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"Exempting all students with IEPs can harm students with learning and attention issues:

It allows poor reading instruction to go undetected in students whose disabilities

don’t impact reading." This relates to the idea that not all students will disabilities should be exempt because of the levels of severity. In some cases this is appropriate.

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It is the responsibility of the teacher and CST to notice when a student is falling behind academically, and interventions should be used before grade retention is necessary. If the problem persists and the student does fail, repeating an individual class may be beneficial but repeating an entire grade typically causes more harm than good.

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I do not agree with the 3rd grade laws. I feel as though with everything these students have gone through in their early years of education, holding them back due to not being able to read on target is not okay. With the right interventions and tools, students can reach the goal of reading on grade level. Retention in this situation is not necessary.

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I think that retention should probably only be used in severe cases where a student falls behind. I believe it may be more beneficial to promote a student to the next grade, while designing an IEP that helps to address the student's deficiencies.

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My opinion is that retention should be a last resort option. Research does not support retention as an intervention and it has profound negative effects on students in both the short and long term.

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Based on Tennessee law, T.C.A. 49-6-3115, passed in 2021, third-grade students who don’t show proficiency on the English Language Arts (ELA) section of the Tennessee Comprehensive Program (TCAP) may have requirements related to summer school and/or tutoring to be promoted to fourth grade. That means current third-grade students who score Below Expectations or Approaching Expectations on state testing may be required to participate in summer school to move to the next grade.