Kindergartners who started school scoring in the bottom 20% had only a 1 in 10 chance of reading proficiency by 3rd grade.

At some point over the past few pandemic years, many states pressed pause on one particular high-stakes, controversial piece of education policy: 3rd grade retention. But now, it’s back. The laws ...

Alabama’s third-graders largely held their ground on state reading assessments in the 2025-26 school year, with 88.2% of ...