Michigan's Read by Grade 3 Law Reform: Senate Votes to Remove Controversial Retention Component

February 5, 2023

Michigan is considering reversing a law that requires third-graders who are behind in reading to repeat the grade. Senate Bill 12, sponsored by Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), aims to reform Michigan’s third-grade reading law by removing the retention mandate. This mandate requires schools to retain third-grade students who are a grade level or more behind in reading based on the English Language Arts portion of the state’s standardized test, the M-STEP. The bill passed the Senate Education Committee and will go to the full Senate for further consideration.

The current law also includes required interventions for struggling students, such as literacy coaches and individualized learning plans, which education advocates support. However, they strongly oppose the retention requirements, which have shown to have no effect on student achievement and have negative impacts on social-emotional development, disciplinary incidents, graduation rates, and criminal activity later in life. The 2021-22 school year showed that retention-eligible Black students were retained at higher rates than students of any other race or ethnicity, raising concerns of the current law being inequitable and biased.

Education advocates support the change, with Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, saying that the decision to retain a student should be made by parents, teachers, and local education professionals, not by the state. Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, stated that removing the focus on punishing students and allowing educators to partner with parents to design a recovery plan will help students learn, grow, and succeed.

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However, not everyone supports the change, with Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) expressing concerns about weakening standards and accountability, as well as schools' abilities to provide effective interventions. Katharine Strunk, director of Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC), suggests addressing the leaky teacher pipeline and investing in schools to make education a desirable profession for teachers and literacy coaches.