UC Education Leaders Will Keep Close Eye On Third Grade Retention Bill Discussions

Upper Cumberland educators playing close attention to discussions on a third-grade retention bill as business gets underway in the state’s general assembly.

The legislation focuses on proficient reading levels in state testing and gives districts the opportunity to hold back students that do not meet the standards. White County Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said they understand the motives behind the bill but are hoping for adjustments.

“I think legislators have been clear that they’ve heard from all constituents that they want to reexamine this law,” Dronebarger said. “And like I said I think it came with good intentions to make sure, as we believe in the school system, that students need to be reading on grade level. But it’s kind of scary to think that across the state that 40 or 50 percent of some third graders would be retained”

Dronebarger said as it stands now, there are options for parents if they find themselves in that situation, such as an appeal on the testing if students are above the 40th percentile. He said there are also options to gain credit by attending summer programming and agreeing to tutoring.

Dronebarger said while there is a lot of concern with the bill, there is still uncertainty. He said he plans on keeping an eye on the bill and doing what he can to keeping White County Schools families up-to-date with what is going on.

“We don’t expect it to go away but we do expect some changes will be made,” Dronebarger said. “So time will tell. We’ll be watching it closely to see what changes are made and how we can communicate to parents and students what that’s going to mean for their futures.”