Md. education board approves plan to hold back third graders who fall short on reading

The Maryland State Board of Education gave final approval Tuesday to a controversial literacy policy that calls for holding back third grade students who aren’t meeting reading standards, if parents give their consent.

Under the plan, parents can insist that their children be allowed to advance to the fourth grade if they also agree to enroll the child in a free, supplemental reading support program. The literacy plan will be phased in, but the retention portion will not be implemented until the 2027-28 school year.

The vote ends months of wrangling over the plan that is aimed at boosting Maryland’s lagging scores for fourth grade reading, currently among the worst in the nation. Since the state Department of Education unveiled the policy this summer, it has received more than 2,000 comments on it.

“This process has resulted in some of the most public engagement that we’ve received in recent years on one specific policy matter,” school board President Joshua Michael said before the board voted. “The version we will consider today is better for Maryland students and families because of this level of public engagement and deliberation. Whatever is passed today is a beginning.”

Michael ultimately joined board member Joan Mele-McCarthy and abstained.

“My focus today was on facilitation,” Michael said. “Clearly, the will of the board was to adopt the policy as amended, and I’m excited to support that direction as we move forward with literacy as the number one priority for this board and for the department.”

The final vote was 11-1, with Xiomara V. Medina, who joined the board last month, voting no.

Medina said she was concerned with the struggles local school systems, also known as local education agencies or LEAs, are having with community engagement. Some school officials pointed to community engagement earlier this year as a challenge in implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s education reform plan.

“I think what’s needed is a clearly defined kind of plan with strategies that LEAs can follow to increase that engagement in order for this parent choice piece to be implemented with fidelity,” she said before her vote. “Otherwise, I fear that this default option will negatively impact our neediest students.”

The biggest changes to the plan came this summer, when the board added the parental consent element. The board approved three minor amendments Tuesday before giving its final OK.

According to the policy, a school or school system must not make a final decision on whether a third-grade student should be retained until parents or guardians are reached “through multiple means of communication, including, but not limited to mail, email, phone calls, and, if appropriate, home visits prior to the next school year.”

The policy comes as the state seeks to boost student achievement on its fourth-grade reading scores, which rank 40th in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The goal is to put Maryland in the top 10 by 2027.

Preliminary test results from the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program released in August showed similarly low scores: It said just 48.1% of students were proficient in English language arts in the last school year.

Besides the third-grade retention part of policy, it now includes reading intervention for prekindergarten students and professional development for educators who teach those students. Some of the educator training will include the science of reading, which focuses on teaching students based on phonics, comprehension and vocabulary.

“We wanted to make sure the policy was inclusive,” said Deann Collins, deputy state superintendent in the department’s Office of Teaching and Learning.

The Maryland program echoes policies incorporated in Mississippi, where Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright previously served as superintendent. That program has been credited with the “Mississippi miracle,” a sharp improvement in the state’s reading assessments.

Other clarifications and modifications made in the approved plan include the department providing technical assistant this school year to implement academic, behavioral and social-emotional outcomes (called a multitiered system of support) and assisting local school districts to begin implementing policy next school year. It also calls for the state board to review implementation of local policies by the summer 2026.

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