The third-grade reading skills of students in the East and West Tallahatchie school districts are not up to par with those of a majority of third-graders in Mississippi, a state Department of Education report has revealed.
In a news release Thursday morning, MDE announced that 75.7% of 31,787 third-graders statewide passed the initial administration of the third-grade reading assessment given this spring for the 2023-24 school year.
In the East Tallahatchie School District, 48.2% of third-graders taking the assessment passed and 51.8% did not.
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In the West Tallahatchie School District, 48% passed while 52% did not.
MDE said third-graders who do not pass the initial administration of the reading test are given up to two attempts to retest.
The so-called "third grade reading gate" is part of the Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA) that became law in 2013 "to improve reading skills of kindergarten through third-grade students in public schools so every student completing the third grade is able to read at or above grade level," MDE noted. "The LBPA requires Mississippi third-graders to pass a reading assessment to qualify for promotion to fourth grade. An amendment to the law in 2016 raised reading-level expectations starting in the 2018-19 school year, requiring third-graders to score at level three or higher on the reading portion of the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) English Language Arts (ELA) assessment."
MDE said students who did not pass the reading assessment on their first attempt last month were retested May 6-10. The second retest window is June 17-28. Some students may qualify for "good cause exemptions" to be promoted to fourth grade.
The statewide district- and school-level initial pass report for 2023-24 may be viewed here.
Final district-level pass rates will be published this fall in the Literacy-Based Promotion Act Annual Report of Performance and Student Retention for the 2023-24 school year, MDE explained. Past LBPA annual reports may be viewed here.
For school year 2022-23, in the East Tallahatchie School District, 66.7% (50) of the 75 tested third-graders passed the initial state reading assessment while 33.3% (25) did not. After retesting, 73.3% (55) had passed, while 33.3% (20) did not. Fourteen of those who did not pass after retesting were promoted to fourth grade by good cause exemptions.
During school year 2022-23, in the West Tallahatchie School District, 44.4% (20) of the 45 tested third-graders passed the initial assessment while 55.6% (25) did not. Adding in students who passed during retests, 65.2% (30) passed and 34.8% (16) did not. Eleven of those who did not pass after retesting were promoted to fourth grade by good cause exemptions.
