Roughly one in two third-grade students are not reading on grade level , according to the South Carolina Department of Education. Those students are in danger of being left back beginning in 2025 under a stringent proposal being weighed by lawmakers.
Public school teachers in South Carolina are also facing potentially significant reforms to improve the state’s dismal literacy rates among elementary students in grades K-3.
An in-depth measure, dubbed “Read to Succeed,” is the latest effort by lawmakers to address the number of elementary students who lack proficiency in reading in the Palmetto State. The bill, S. 905 , would require teachers to follow a strict “comprehensive and systemic approach” in helping students achieve fundamental literacy skills. It would also mandate that students not reading on grade level by the third grade be left back, notwithstanding several exemptions.
The bill cleared a Senate education subcommittee Wednesday.
Nearly “50% of third graders are not reading a grade level,” said the chair of the Senate education subcommittee and lead sponsor of the bill. “I look at where we are and what we’ve achieved (in literacy proficiency), and personally, I feel like we’ve failed. We can’t continue doing what we’ve been doing.”