Articles

Many Third-Grade Readers May Flunk Exam

Dana Tofig, AJC Staff
March 9, 2004

The state Department of Education expects as many as 26,000 third-graders to fail the state reading exam this year and risk being held back.

Faye Aaron is worried her 8-year-old daughter Dashia will be one of them.

"She's a real good student," said Aaron, of Fairburn in south Fulton County. "But on tests, she doesn't do well."

Aaron was one of more than a dozen people who attended a Tuesday morning news conference held by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. The national civil rights group is urging the state Legislature to delay a rule that, starting this spring, will require all third-graders to pass the state's curriculum exam in reading to be promoted. The requirement is part of the massive state school plan passed in 2000.

Janice Mathis, vice president of the coalition, said other aspects of that effort, such as class size reductions, have been delayed because of budget constraints. So, she said, for fairness, the promotion law should be delayed, too. "We have not kept our part of the bargain," she said, referring to the state.

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox told the state House Education Committee Tuesday that she expects 16 percent to 23 percent of Georgia's 116,000 third-graders to fail the first time.

"I have hopes it's going to be less," she said after the meeting. Cox Ñ who does not support a delay Ñ said those students will be offered an intensive summer school program for reading and will be allowed to take the test again before classes start in August. She hopes the percentage of third-graders who will actually be held back next school year will be less than 10 percent Ñ or about 11,000 students.

Rep. Bob Holmes, chairman of the House Education Committee, has introduced a bill to delay the third-grade promotion rule for a year, saying the state has not met the needs of third-graders who are struggling at reading. And, he noted, the state canceled plans to give these students the reading exam in second grade because of technical errors with some of the tests, so it's hard to track student progress.

Holmes' bill to delay the rule has passed the Democrat-led House. It was amended so that the delay would occur only if the state's test scores are received late. That bill appears to have little chance to pass in the Republican-led state Senate. However, Holmes said he will try to attach the delay as an amendment to other education bills being pushed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

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