Tara Kilbride
EPIC, Michigan State University
Seth Walker
EPIC, Michigan State University
November 2023
On March 24, 2023, Governor Whitmer signed Public Act 7 into law, which amended the original Read by Grade Three Law by, most notably, removing the third-grade retention mandate. This change will go into effect in 2023-24, meaning that students who scored below the state-determined cut-off on the 3rd-grade ELA M-STEP at the end of 2022-23 may still be retained under the Read by Grade Three Law. Although future cohorts of Michigan 3rd graders will not be subject to the retention policy, the other supports and interventions outlined in the Read by Grade Three Law will remain in place
In this report, we examine the rates and characteristics of students who could be required to repeat the 3rd grade based on their ELA M-STEP scores at the end of 2022-23. As districts may choose to promote retention-eligible students to the 4th grade by granting good cause exemptions, we also provide estimated retention rates that account for characteristics that are likely to qualify a student for an exemption. Additionally, we compare our estimates to those from previous school years to assess changes over time.
