To the editor: Retention ‘guarantee’ at 3rd grade helps reading improve

The Editorial board of The Blade recently urged lawmakers to eliminate in its entirety the retention requirement of Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee, which once stipulated that elementary schools across the state must make students repeat third grade if they are still struggling to read (“Focus on teaching,” Monday). Despite recent changes to state law that permit parents to request that students be promoted to fourth grade regardless of whether they can read at grade level, The Blade contends that eliminating the measure all together would be a “significant step in rebuilding literacy education.”