Rep. Rob Hall (R-Tulsa) and Sen. Michael Bergstrom (R-Adair) announced Friday the filing of House Bill 2944 and mirror legislation, Senate Bill 1271, titled the Oklahoma READS (Reading Excellence through Accountability, Development and Standards) Act.
Only 27% of Oklahoma third graders scored advanced or proficient on last year’s state reading test.
A key provision in the bill is restoring the practice of holding back third graders who do not pass literacy tests. Oklahoma used to require third grade literacy-based retention through 2011’s Reading Sufficiency Act, but the legislature whittled down its enforcement, fully repealing the policy during the last legislative session through the Strong Readers Act.
The practice has been found to promote higher sixth grade English Language Arts scores with no significant impact on absences. However, critics say the policy is punitive, removes students from their social cohorts and creates a bottleneck between third and fourth grade.
The proposed legislation would also require each public school district to provide an in-person summer academy to low-performing students, beginning after the 2027-2028 school year. If a student participates in the summer academy and passes an alternative reading assessment, they may be promoted to fourth grade.
The law would also require retained students to get at least an hour and a half of intensive reading instruction, and the state would assign literacy coaches to schools with students who score the lowest in third grade reading assessments.
Mississippi has spent around $15 million a year to implement its strategy, which includes free, full-day pre-K programs that focus on reading, literacy screening three times a year for kindergarteners through third-graders, individual reading plans for low-performing students, and literacy coaches.
“By almost every metric, our state is facing a literacy crisis, and it is our kids and our grandkids who are going to suffer,” Bergstrom said in a press release. “On top of that, this could severely hamper our state’s ability to compete and prosper.”
The proposal comes after the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce unveiled its “Oklahoma Competes” plan in November during a State of Business Forum. The plan calls on the legislature to implement policy with the goal of raising third grade reading proficiency to 100%.
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