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‘Read by Grade Three’ reform on track for passage in the Senate

Grade School Classroom
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Grade School Classroom

A bill in the state Senate would remove a requirement to hold back Michigan third-graders who don’t meet certain reading benchmarks

The changes would be made to the state’s “Read by Grade Three” law.

Democratic Senator Dayna Polehanki says there are many good parts of that law. But:

“The mass flunking is just riddled with problems that we’ve talked about in committee and it was a bad idea then, it's a bad idea now. And hopefully we can repeal this bad idea.”

Critics worry pushing children who struggle with reading to higher grades would make the problem worse.

Supporters argue children would still receive the same reading support in the fourth grade without the stigma of being held back.

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