Third-Grade Retention: A Conversation About Adult Accountability and Student Outcomes

Students in Tennessee took their state’s comprehensive assessment this week, and the state’s newly enacted third-grade retention policy means that students who don’t pass could be held back. Over the past few years, other states have also adopted third-grade retention policies, with a goal of ensuring adults act early to provide students with high-quality supports to address their needs. Meanwhile other states have walked back their third-grade retention policies in the wake of pandemic-precipitated learning loss and because of the negative impact on students over the long term and the disparities around how the policies are enforced. REGISTER Please join me on May 16, from 3–4:30 p.m. ET, for a panel conversation, exploring recent legislative changes in states across the country regarding third-grade retention. State and national experts will discuss: 1) How states with new third-grade retention policies are working to ensure the policies are effective in supporting student learning. 2) Why states such as Michigan have repealed legislation, focusing instead on staffing recommendations, reading intervention services and the use of evidence-based curricula and instruction. 3) Research on where retention has worked well, where it hasn’t and what research tells us a good policy could look like. 4) With panelists bringing their diverse perspectives to this conversation, I will moderate a discussion focusing on efforts and approaches designed to hold adults accountable for advancing the common goal of supporting student learning and development across the country.