UPDATED — The Legislature today passed the Alabama Literacy Act to require flunking third graders who don’t read at grade level. The bill is headed to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, and modeled on a Mississippi law.

“In my heart I believe that if we pass a child out of the third grade that cannot read, we are failing that child,” Collins has said.

But not everyone agrees on the idea of holding children back because they don’t have the reading skills of other children in their grade. Some educators, parents and policy makers believe the practice sets students up to fail. They also think that automatic retention penalizes poor children. One study found that children of wealthier parents are 14 percent less likely to be retained than the child of a high school dropout, even though the students’ test scores were the same.

Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Craig Pouncey said the Literacy Act offers no long-lasting reforms and no recurring revenue.

“The bill has its aspirational points, but there is no adequate funding,” Pouncey said before the final passage.
“This bill ignores the retention aspects of schools,” Pouncey said. “If a student is retained, it is unlikely they will graduate, and no parent wants older, more mature boys (who have been held back) in their 12-year-old daughter’s class.” Read more.