Families don’t move here to avail themselves of our public schools. Fortunately for the children of Arizona, the state legislature is taking a hard look at educational reforms that seem to be working in other parts of the country.
One such reform is the requirement that students pass standardized tests to qualify for promotion at certain key grade levels. Arizona will soon join Florida and Texas and the vast urban school districts of Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago in linking student promotion to academic preparedness.
Representative Rich Crandall’s education bill, HB 2732, which passed in both Arizona houses this week, prohibits the promotion of a third-grader who scores far below the third grade level on the AIMS reading test. Third grade is significant because traditionally students “learn to read” in K-3 so they can “read to learn” in the upper grades. A student who has a learning disability or is an English Language Learner (ELL) with less than two years of English instruction is exempt.
Critics of retention, or holding children back, argue that the practice harms students’ self-esteem and motivation to succeed. They advocate instead for a policy of social promotion, i.e., promoting students to the next grade despite low achievement in order to keep them with their social peers.
Studies comparing low-achieving students retained in the third grade to similarly low-scoring children promoted to the fourth reveal far greater gains in the retained students.
An important amendment, introduced by Senator Barbara Leff and adopted in the bill’s final version, requires the Task Force on Reading Assessment to make recommendations on the use of student, teacher and school data to improve promotion rates, ensuring transparency and accountability at each level.
HB 2732 will take effect only if Prop 100, the temporary sales tax increase, passes on May 18th. If the school’s budget is the issue, however, it would seem that less intervention (at additional cost) would be required to teach a student how to read in third grade with other students who are learning to read than in fourth grade with students who already are reading for content.
Once Arizona’s educators adjust to using standardized tests scores to determine readiness for promotion, perhaps legislators will raise the bar still higher and require a minimum AIMS math score for promotion to fourth grade.
Amy H Laff is a StateBrief.com partner. A graduate of Univ of Penn and Stanford Law School, Amy practiced law and mediation on the east coast before relocating to the Valley, where she founded and chairs the AZ chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Amy makes frequent media appearances, including AZ Law Channel and Tony Katz Radio Spectacular. Additionally, she works with companies and candidates on branding and communication. 
