Let me tell you a secret. I hated learning to read.

I vividly recall when, as quite a young lad, my mom sat me down with a phonics book and I was forced to start sounding out letters and eventually words. Cat. Bat. Rat. The hard consonant, the “a”, the “tuh”. I loathed the process. Thankfully, my mom stuck with it, and things came to a head when I independently read my first book when I was 5. See the Yak Yak by Charles Ghigna.

My life would never be the same. I was hooked. Reading has been a passion ever since. For proof, just look at my Goodreads profile. And I only started diligently tracking books there during the pandemic (a true highlight so far this year was reading True Biz by Sara Nović; whether you’re an educator or not, I cannot recommend it more highly).

The Point of Today’s Blog

You may be wondering where all this is going. Are you just in for a trip down memory lane or info dump about all my five star ratings on Goodreads? No and no. (But I can’t help myself so here’s one more book recommendation: Yellowface by R.F. Khuang.) 

I bring this up because a major bill (Senate Enrolled Act 1 to be exact) passed through the Indiana Legislature.

Indiana is in the middle of a literacy crisis. (Not just Indiana, by the way. The whole country. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates 1 in 5 US adults have low literacy skills. Indiana tracks at about the national average.) Way too many of our kids cannot read by third grade. And if you can’t read by third grade, research is clear that your long-term opportunities are less rosy.

Senate Enrolled Act 1 is complex. But far and away the piece that has garnered the most attention is the language in it around student retention. The legislation hypothetically opens the door to a massive increase in how many students are retained each year by Indiana schools. In Center Township alone, under this legislation, there could be thousands more students retained per year.

Should kids be retained? It can be a wise strategy for very specific scenarios but my sense of things is that it would be a disaster if done en masse. At the same time, I wholeheartedly agree that it is also disastrous when kids cannot read by the end of third grade and they simply rise through the grades, still unable to read.

When I taught 8^th grade, it was not uncommon to have students in my class who read at a 1^st or 3^rd or 5^th grade level. Seven years of schooling had not gotten them prepared for 8^th grade.

Amid all kinds of hubbub, the possible (and possibly dramatically positive) impact of this bill might be getting shrouded even as the specter of increased retention robs the spotlight.

What Will Senate Enrolled Act 1 Do?

All credit to the legwork of Indiana Capital Chronicle. They made life easy compiling these fast facts. First, the context the bill’s authors certainly had in mind when drafting:

• In 2023, 13,840 Hoosier third graders failed to pass IREAD
• Of that number, 5,503 got an exemption, the rest did not (meaning over 7,000 remained eligible for retention)
• Nonetheless, around 95% of the students who did not get an exemption were still moved to fourth grade
• In 2023, only 412 students were retained across the whole state of Indiana

The bill’s authors have been quick to note this legislation is not meant to be a “retention bill” that dramatically increases how many students get retained each year. They are quoted in the Indiana Capital Chronicle saying retention is “a last resort.” I concur with the last resort sentiment.

So here’s what the bill does:

• Certain schools will now administer IREAD for students in K-2 who are not on track to read proficiently by third grade
• For students deemed at-risk or struggling, additional interventions will be put in place to help them pass by third grade
• Students will get multiple attempts at passing IREAD; if they do not pass by the end of third grade, school districts are directed to retain them
• Retention exceptions are included for certain student groups (e.g. English language learners and special education students)

The bill also requires that schools offer summer school for students who are not proficient or at risk of not being proficient. It does not, however, mandate that students who fall in to this category attend summer school. Just that they have the opportunity through their school. In conjunction with this, the legislation also widens eligibility for summer school funding.

The bill’s authors have argued that with the right literacy support, possibly including remediation, students shouldn’t arrive at a place where they need to be retained.

Some critics wanted the retention portion of the bill to be delayed until the 2025-26 school year (at which point Hoosier educators should be trained up on the science of reading).

(Quick aside: Training educators statewide on the science of reading is great. It’s also incredibly demoralizing to know that literal decades have gone by where millions of kids were “taught” how to read using methods that were not evidence-based. No wonder we have a crisis on our hands. But at least we’re stepping in the right direction now.)

Republican legislators rejected the delay and the language stayed. So the retention provision will go into place for the 2024-25 school year.

The Possible Impact in Center Township

Statewide, about 17% of third grade students are sent off to fourth grade having never passed IREAD. But in Indianapolis Public Schools, it’s closer to 40% (with the vast majority of township districts also trending worse than the state average).

As Chalkbeat Indiana indicated, Senate Bill 1 doesn’t mean those percentages zero out as every student who doesn’t pass gets held back. The story notes Dr. Jenner saying that would be the worst-case scenario.

Ultimately, the defining question here is insufficient. Instead of only asking: “How many students will be retained under this new bill?” We need to also ask: “Does this bill ensure more and more students, year over year, can read fluently by the end of third grade?” To that latter question, I think the answer will be yes.

All the moves it makes should, in both the short- and long-term, improve student literacy rates. And importantly, as noted above, it still leaves room for retention exceptions for certain student groups.

At the same time, it’ll take more than just one piece of legislation to address our literacy crisis. Summer learning that focuses on acceleration and not just remediation has a role to play here (remember Indy Summer Learning Labs?) as can innovative efforts like the Go Farther Literacy Fund, which for the past four years has put money straight into the hands of families, schools, and local organizations to combat illiteracy among youth.

We must be systematic, leaving no stone unturned, in our pursuit of full literacy. Anything less is a societal (not just a school) failure.

We Need a Kick in the Pants on Literacy

Our state needs a kick in the pants when it comes to helping kids read by third grade. Retaining thousands of kids starting next year would be a physical and mental disaster for schools across the state but particularly in Center Township. The good news is I don’t think that will be the outcome here.

Ideally (and in my opinion realistically), Senate Enrolled Act 1 will lead to increased literacy rates. Perhaps minimal increases at first. But it’s the kind of shift that ought to build momentum over time. If it does, it will be a major step forward for Hoosiers.