All 3rd grade students will take the Reading Beginning of Grade Test on September 6th. For more information, please read the letter below or contact your child's teacher.
As your child begins third grade, you will see a concentrated focus in ensuring students can read at or above grade level and are making progress in reading proficiency. The goal is to ensure all third-grade students can read, comprehend, integrate, and apply complex texts needed for academic success and to ensure all students can meet the requirements of the Read to Achieve law (G.S. §115C-83.1).
There are three ways students can meet the promotion requirement of the Read to Achieve legislation.
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Score an achievement level 3, 4, or 5 on the Beginning-of-Grade 3 Reading Test, which will be administered on (insert date of test administration).
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Achieve a 725 Lexile on the DIBELS 8 assessment during a benchmark period.
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Score an achievement level 3, 4, or 5 on the reading end-of-grade (EOG) test.
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If your student is not proficient on the reading EOG test and has not met the Read to Achieve law through one of the previously stated pathways, they will have the opportunity to take the Read to Achieve Test.
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If your student has not satisfied the requirements of the Read to Achieve law by the end of third grade, they can attend a reading camp to help improve reading skills. At the end of reading camp, students achieving proficiency are eligible to be promoted to fourth grade.
Students who do not achieve proficiency at the end of reading camp can be retained in third grade, placed in a transitional third and fourth class combination with a retained reading label, or placed in a fourth-grade accelerated reading class with a retained reading label. Ninety minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction is provided daily in these classes. Students in the transitional third and fourth class combination or fourth-grade accelerated class are eligible to retake the Read to Achieve Test again by November 1 to achieve a mid-year promotion and to have the retained reading label removed. Students will remain in the same fourth-grade class for the entire school year and will continue to receive uninterrupted reading instruction throughout fourth grade to support ongoing improvement in reading skills.
After November 1, non-proficient students may achieve a 725 Lexile on the DIBELS 8 assessment during a benchmark period, or pass the Grade 4 Reading EOG Test by the end of the fourth-grade year and have the retained reading label removed.
Please be advised that students are not allowed to use or have in their possession cell phones or any other electronic recording, listening, scanning, communication, or photographic devices at any time during a test session, including breaks. Any student found or observed with a cell phone or electronic device during a testing session must be dismissed from the session and a misadministration will be declared for that student.