LANSING, MI (WHTC) – Governor Rick Snyder has signed the third grade reading bill that has been kicked around the legislature for about two years.
There has been a lot of debate about a provision in the original version that required that if a student did not meet reading standards, that they could not graduate to fourth grade. Since then a number of exemptions have been written into the measure.
Park Township State Rep and Sponsor of the bill Amanda price says to learn to read is to light a fire.
“It opens up your entire world. You become inquisitive about any number of subjects from geography to under sea exploration to history, but if you don’t have that key skill the world is more limited in your life”
Price says the goal is not to retain students, but to make sure they can read so retention is unnecessary. “Having educators who read the final product know this isn’t about retention, this is about helping kids from the earliest point on. That really was the entire focus the entire time of this pathway.”
Retentions won’t begin until 2019…when the current class of kindergartners hit 3rd grade.
– John McNeill contributed to this report.
