A RESEARCH REPORT FROM EPIC

Read by Grade Three Law Initial Retention Decisions for the 2021-22 School Year

Prepared for Michigan Department of Education

December 2022

The Read by Grade Three Law aims to improve early literacy outcomes for students across the state through improved instruction, implementation of early monitoring and identification systems, required interventions for students identified as having a “reading deficiency” under the Law, and a requirement that districts retain students who do not meet a state standard for reading proficiency by the end of the 3rd grade.

In this report, we show that, in 2021-22, districts intended to retain a larger proportion of retention-eligible students than in 2020-21, but districts still promoted the vast majority of eligible students. However, there were substantial differences in retention rates across student and district types, with Black and economically disadvantaged students more likely to be retained than their white or wealthier peers and lower-performing and urban districts, as well as charter schools more likely than other districts to retain all of their retention-eligible students. Disparities in districts propensities to retain students may be attributable to differences in educators’ perceptions of the efficacy of retention as an intervention to improve student literacy and in variations in districts’ implementation of the Law. Indeed, educators in districts that retained all or some of their students in 2020-21 were more likely to view retention as effective at improving achievement and less likely to view the retention process as burdensome than educators in districts that promoted all eligible students.