The Students Who Can't Pass: Richfield School Board Discusses New Legislative Bill

There are students within his district, across the state and around the nation for whom passing a reading proficiency exam can be an insurmountable feat, according to .

Yet, the Minnesota State Legislature has introduced a number of bills, including HF 934, aimed at these students, specifying that third graders who don't prove to be proficient in reading won't move on to the fourth grade. Slotterback said the measure would not resolve reading proficiency problems for these students.

"If you say a student may not be promoted to fourth grade until they pass this test, there will be students who will have difficulty for years and years and years [to come]," Slotterback said. "The idea that you just set a standard and [expect] it'll make them read better ... doesn't make sense."

Slotterback said cities like St. Paul and Minneapolis tried the approach and eventually abandoned it.

The bill requires districts to implement a number of programs aimed at improving proficiency, such as small group instruction, tutoring and summer programs, but specifies that students who cannot pass state or local reading proficiency exams will not advance to fourth grade.

Slotterback said the district has already that help improve reading proficency. Similar to what the bill would require, these include a number of reading specialists that work with students who struggle, summer reading sessions and an outreach approach with parents.

He said retention has never been proven to improve student performance.

"The reality is that there are certain students who really struggle from a literacy standpoint," he said.

He said the board will continue to follow the legislation over the next two months. This is a developing story and Richfield Patch will continue to report on this issue as more information becomes available. The next school board meeting is at 7 p.m. May 16 at .