The Alabama State Board of Education is touting promising results from summer reading camps as students return to classrooms.
The latest statewide data shows that 8.5 percent of third graders finished summer still reading below grade level—a number shaped by a higher cut score than last year. Of 55,930 third graders tested in the spring, 6,470 were below grade level. About 4,000 of those took part in summer programs and were retested, with 1,743 still below grade level afterward.
As for the 2,400 students who did not test at the end of summer, Mackey said there were a few different reasons this could be.
“So one, they could have gone to summer camp and just opted not to take the test, or parents opted not to test, to just keep them in third grade. That is an option that parents have. Some of those students are probably more severe, special needs, and so their IEP team met, and they’re already working on that, may retain them or promote them with supports, but they decided that summer reading camp was not the best for that person. Some of them are just parents who decided, I don’t want my kid to go to summer reading camp. And so some of them, many of them, will probably be retained,” said Mackey.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey said that this is not the final number of students still reading below grade level.
“That number will dwindle down as we look at portfolio assessments,” said Mackey. “That will probably be October when we’ll bring you that data, because we’re still getting that now from the district, so they have a few more weeks to turn in to us, how many of your fourth graders were promoted some way other than by state test.”
Students who barely passed, falling between the cut score and the preferred score, are also being flagged.
“They get a letter, too. Your child is on grade level. They’re above the cut score, but they’re close enough on any day they might bounce before, any other day they might be just below,” said Mackey. “In addition, we have the Reading Beyond Grade 3 program that you all started, and those grants have started to go out.”
New grants, funded at around $90,000 per reading interventionist, are being directed to schools with the greatest needs.
“It’d be very hard for them to say no. They’re pretty identified. This is how much money you qualify for and this is how you can use it. Sign and return,” said Mackey.
Mackey also highlighted the impact of the Literacy Act in ensuring that struggling readers are no longer invisible. This is the second summer that students who are not meeting reading comprehension benchmarks in summer reading camp may be retained in third grade.
“Prior to that, many of those students were moving on, but they weren’t even identified as reading below grade level,” said Mackey. “At least now that teacher who’s receiving that child knows what level the child’s reading on and has a lot of data on that child’s performance in second and third grade.”
