BALTIMORE — For the last 10 years, the level of reading proficiency among Maryland students has plummeted.

69% of students didn’t reach proficiency in reading in 2022.

It’s why state superintendent Dr. Carey Wright tasked the Literacy Programs and Initiatives Branch of the State Department of Education with creating a new policy to help students improve their reading.

“Students who are not reading proficiently in third grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school, and if these students happen to also be from a low-income family and happen to be minority, they are eight times more likely,” says Dr. Tenette Smith.

The focus of the policy is to notice students who are struggling early and give them, their teachers, and their parents extra help to improve their reading.

But there is also a part of the policy calling for the state to hold back students in third grade if they can’t read at the required level.

Laura Daly, a mom of two, says she is glad the board is having this conversation.

“I think it’s potentially a good idea as long as we know there are actual interventions that are going to yield results, because I think if we are just holding them back just for the sake of holding them back, if we’re just going to put them through the same cycle that they already went through and essentially failed, that’s not really doing anybody good,” says Daly.

Although many board members are eager to increase the number of students who are proficient in the state, some have reservations about the idea of holding third graders back who are struggling.

“I don’t want us to put the cart before the horse; this is a massive impact on students, and I feel like if we do it too soon before everything is in place, then we are doing something negative to students,” says Rachel McCusker.

“Who loses if we enact this? The answer is overwhelmingly going to be black and brown students,” says Nick Greer.

Although we don’t know how many students would be held back under this policy, the research states it could be up to 10,000 students in the state.

“I don’t think we have the space in the state of Maryland, and I don’t believe we have the teachers in the state of Maryland to have massive students repeating the third grade,” says Dr. Susan Jackson Getty.

The state department of education is scheduled to vote to consider adopting this policy in September.

If they vote in favor of the policy as it was presented today, the state board will enact the policy in two years, meaning students going into first grade this fall will be the first group of students impacted by the time they get to third grade.

There will be an opportunity for public comment on the literacy policy at a state board meeting in August.