GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A recent test score report indicates that nearly 10%  of Grand Rapids 3rd Graders are below the reading level; a trend not inconsistent with young Michiganders throughout the state. 

109 of the 1,103 Grand Rapids students enrolled in third grade last year were eligible to be retained, or repeat third grade.  Only two students were held back, while the other 107 continued to fourth grade by means of an exemption provided under Michigan’s Read by Grade Three law. 

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This legislation dictates any student scoring beneath 1252 on the M -STEP is eligible to be held back.  Any student scoring below a 1280 is considered not proficient.  There is an addendum that enables parents to opt to have their student continue onto the fourth grade. 

Grand Rapids Superintendent Leadriane Roby attributed this year’s data partially to the pandemic for disrupting the schooling of the rising fourth graders. 

“The one thing I want to make this point of, is with the class of 2021-22 third graders, who are now fourth graders, they have had two years of interrupted learning due to COVID,” Roby said to the board during discussion of the data Monday.

According to the Grand Rapids Deputy Superintendent of pre K – 12 academics and leadership Brandy Mitchell, the Grand Rapids area has not experienced much growth in its reading scores.  The district plans to increase reading interventions and progress monitoring. 

Some important areas where students need intervention are phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency said Director of Curriculum Jonathan Harper. 

Approximately 34% of Michigan third-grade students are not proficient in English Language Arts according to the 2021- 2022 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) testing. 

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 Six years ago 24% of Michigan third graders scored not proficient on the test – these results are particularly concerning for rising fourth graders as they are subjected to the “Read by Grade Three” legislation that went into effect.  

Per Michigan State University Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) revealed that nearly 6% of all Michigan third graders scored below a 1252.