Reading Expectations for
Grade 3 Students in Florida—
Fact Sheet for School Districts
In the Background:
The Florida Legislatur
e’
s recent r
evision of the Florida School Code has
changed the r
equir
ements for student pr
ogression. School districts must incorporate these
changes into school district policy by r
evising the student pr
ogression plan (formerly the pupil
progression plan) for the 2002-2003 school year
. This fact sheet focuses on changes in student
progression r
elated to pr
oficiency in r
eading.
In the Foreground—Reading:
The goal of the Legislatur
e is that ever
y student r
ead at or
above grade level. As such, the following r
equirements have been maintained:
❏
Any student who exhibits a substantial deficiency in r
eading, based on teacher observations
or local or state assessments conducted in grades K-3,
must be given
intensive
reading
instruction immediately following the identification of the r
eading deficiency
.
❏
The student’
s r
eading pr
oficiency must be r
eassessed by locally determined assessments or
through teacher obser
vations at the beginning of the grade following the intensive r
eading
instruction.
❏
The student must continue to be pr
ovided with intensive r
eading instruction until the r
eading
deficiency is r
emedied.
This Is New
❏
A new provision r
equires school districts to allocate r
emedial and supplemental instruction
resources to students in the following priority:
1. First, to students who ar
e deficient in r
eading by the end of grade 3
2. Next, to students who fail to meet performance levels r
equired for pr
omotion.
❏
Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year
, if a student in any grade has been identified as
having a r
eading deficiency
, the student’
s academic impr
ovement plan must identify the
following:
✓
the student’
s specific ar
eas of deficiency in phonemic awar
eness, phonics, fluency
,
comprehension, and vocabulary
✓
the desir
ed levels of performance in these ar
eas
✓
the instructional and support services to be pr
ovided to meet the desir
ed levels of
performance.
❏
Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year
, if a student’
s r
eading deficiency is not r
emedied
by the end of grade 3, as demonstrated by scoring at level 2 or higher on the grade 3
reading portion of the Florida Compr
ehensive Assessment T
est (FCA
T), the student
must be
retained, unless exempted fr
om mandatory retention for good cause. (See r
everse.)
School districts must assist schools and teachers to implement r
esearch-based activities that have
been shown to be successful in teaching r
eading to low-performing students.
This change moves the reading promotion gateway from grade 4 to
grade 3 and places in statute the FCAT level requiring retention.
From the Florida Department of Education
Good Cause Exemptions from Mandatory Retention in Grade 3
Exemptions fr
om mandatory retention of grade 3 students who demonstrate continuing deficiencies
in r
eading ar
e limited to the following:
❏
Limited English pr
oficient students who have had less than two years of instruction in an English
for Speakers of Other Languages pr
ogram.
❏
Students with disabilities whose individual educational plan (IEP) indicates that participation in
statewide assessment is not appr
opriate, consistent with the r
equirements of State Boar
d of
Education rule.
❏
Students who demonstrate an acceptable level of performance on an alternative standar
dized
reading assessment appr
oved by the State Boar
d of Education.
❏
Students who demonstrate, thr
ough a student portfolio, that they ar
e reading on grade level as
evidenced by demonstration of mastery of the Sunshine State Standar
ds in r
eading equal to at
least a Level 2 performance on FCA
T.
❏
Students with disabilities who participate in FCA
T and who have an IEP or a 504 Plan that r
eflects
that they have r
eceived intensive r
emediation in r
eading for mor
e than two years but still
demonstrate a deficiency in r
eading and wer
e previously r
etained in grades K-2.
❏
Any thir
d-grade student r
eceiving intensive r
emediation in r
eading two or mor
e years but still has
deficiency in r
eading and pr
eviously r
etained K-2 for a total of two years. If pr
omoted under this
exemption, intensive r
eading instruction must include an alter
ed instructional day based on an
AIP that includes specialized diagnostic information and specific r
eading strategies.
Requests for good cause exemptions fr
om the mandatory retention for students with continuing
reading deficiencies in grade 3 must be consistent with the following:
❏
Documentation must be submitted by the student’
s teacher to the principal that indicates that the
promotion of the student is appr
opriate and is based upon the student’
s academic r
ecord. Such
documentation can consist only of the existing AIP
, IEP
, r
eport car
d, student portfolio, or alternate
test scor
es.
❏
The principal must r
eview and discuss the r
ecommendation with the teacher and determine
promotion or r
etention. If the principal determines that the student should be pr
omoted, the
principal must make the r
ecommendation in writing to the superintendent.
❏
The superintendent must accept or r
eject the principal’
s r
ecommendation in writing.
Report to Parents of Students in Grades K–3 with Reading Deficiencies
Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year
, the par
ent of any student in grades K–3 who exhibits a
substantial r
eading deficiency must be notified in writing of the following:
✓
that the child has been identified as having a substantial r
eading deficiency
✓
a description of the curr
ent ser
vices that ar
e provided to the child
✓
a description of the pr
oposed supplemental instructional ser
vices and supports that will be
provided to the child to r
emediate the r
eading deficiency
✓
that if the child’
s r
eading deficiency is not r
emediated by the end of grade 3, the child must be
retained unless exempted fr
om mandatory retention for good cause.
For more information on this or other new requirements for the school district
student progression plan, contact the following Florida Department of Education
personnel:
Mary Jo Butler
Michael T
remor
Ruth Gumm-Shearon
850-487-8726
850-487-8804
850-487-3506
SC: 287-8726
SC: 277-8804
SC: 277-3506
maryjo.butler@FLDOE.or
g
michael.tr
emor@FLDOE.org
ruth.gumm@FLDOE.org
311653?
