As Missouri lawmakers look to improve students’ reading scores, educators warn a provision to hold back struggling readers would inhibit other efforts
By: Annelise Hanshaw
Missouri Independent
State Rep. Cathy Joy Loy, a Republican from Carthage, said her bill seeking to automatically retain Missouri third-grade students who are struggling to read is a “tourniquet” to “stop the bleed of children who are not reading.”
But speaking to the Senate Education Committee Tuesday morning, school administrators said literacy rates are showing improvement three years into the state’s implementation of a teacher training program on phonics-based reading instruction. Loy’s bill, they argue, could disrupt that momentum.
“We are seeing progress,” said Taneyville Superintendent Brandi Turner. “However, meaningful, systematic change requires time, consistency and sustained support.”
In 2022, state lawmakers passed a bill to mandate “evidence-based reading instruction” with interventions for struggling readers. In response, the state’s education department launched its “Read, Lead, Exceed” initiative, with resources for educators and a teacher training program. In three years, over 10,000 educators have completed the training.
Turner said lawmakers should “allow time to fully implement” the 2022 law.
“Retention does not address the root cause of reading difficulties,” she said. “It simply delays progression without guaranteeing improved outcomes. While the intent is to support struggling readers, the practice itself does not remedy the underlying challenges students face.”
Many states have become interested in mandated retention following Mississippi’s adoption of the policy in 2013 as part of a larger literacy law.
Since 2013, Mississippi’s fourth-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have improved from 49th in the nation to ninth. Educators have pointed to the data as a sign of, at least, short-term gains for students, but it is harder to discern whether the policy leads to long-range success.
While Mississippi’s fourth grade scores have leapt upwards over the past decade, eighth grade students have more modest gains. In 2013, the state scored 50th in the eighth grade reading assessment, compared to 41st in 2024.
Troy Lentz, superintendent of Mexico School District, told the committee he didn’t see enough evidence that making students repeat 3rd grade will help them long-term. He worried about students who excel in some subjects while struggling with reading.
“There are things that kids are good at, and they’re not able to advance forward (if retained),” he said. “I do believe that our schools provide intensive reading support for kids who are behind.”
But for the committee’s chairman, state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, letting struggling readers move to the 4th grade is “a recipe for disaster.”
“Passing them on is not a help or benefit or anything,” he said. “It probably will lead to, in my opinion, more disastrous results.”
Craig Carson, assistant superintendent of learning for the Ozark School District, said retention should remain an option left to a student’s guardians to decide.
“We look at a kid holistically and help a parent decide, is this a good idea or not,” he said. “Sometimes it is the best idea, and when that happens, then I absolutely support it.”
“I don’t think the mandatory trigger is good,” he added.
As it stands, the bill would automatically retain students who score “at risk” on a reading screener administered at the end of third grade. Students with disabilities, English language learners and those who have already been held back once can qualify for an exemption.
Otto Fajen, the Missouri National Education Association’s director of legislative policy, said the bill should “at a minimum” have options for students to sign up for a program like tutoring or summer school to avoid being forced to repeat a grade.
“It is difficult for us to see the law changed to take away parental agency in these decisions about retention,” he said. “Especially since, as it stands, it is basically going to rest on a single event score.”