K-3 Elementary Parents/Guardians:
Ohio Senate Bill 316, signed into law in June, 2012, includes a new Third Grade Reading Guarantee that says students who enter the third grade in 2013-2014 or after must score at a certain level on Ohio’s third-grade reading achievement assessment to be advanced to the fourth grade.
For more information on this new law, visit the Ohio Department of Education website at: http://www.ode.state.oh.us and search “Third Grade Reading Guarantee.”
The third grade is an important reading milestone because students who are not reading at grade level by that point are not prepared to adequately handle the increasing difficulty of classroom subjects beginning in the fourth grade.
The Third Grade Reading Guarantee is designed to ensure that all Ohio students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Some key points from the new requirement include:
- All K-3 students will undergo annual diagnostic tests to determine reading ability.
- If a student is not on track to read at grade level, the school district must create a reading improvement and monitoring plan that details the student’s reading deficiencies, describes needed interventions and includes parents in the improvement plan.
- Unless students are exempted for reasons stated in the law, those who have not reached grade-level reading by the end of the third grade will be retained.
- Students who are retained will continue to receive intensive remediation, including at least 90 minutes of reading instruction daily.
- These provisions take effect this fall, but student retention under the new criteria will not occur until the 2013-2014 school year.
Sincerely,
Natalie A. Fior
Erieview Principal