Tennessee teachers tell lawmakers literacy struggles are a big concern with young children

Tennessee’s Third-Grade Retention Law is among the biggest education topics this year at the state capitol and legislators aren’t the only ones with strong opinions about it.Kindergarten teacher La’Chandra D. Mason of Leadership Preparatory Academy in Memphis says the new law has impacted her work.“It has changed how I teach. Because I need to make sure they get it when they leave me because if they don’t and we pass them any way then they’re more probable to be retained in the third grade if we never retained them,” said Mason.Tennessee’s General Assembly passed the Third-Grade Retention Law in 2021 to ensure that students who a need additional help in reading would receive it before being promoted to the fourth grade.Some critics feel the law may do more harm than good holding students back a grade based on their test scores and more than a dozen bills have been filed to make changes.Mason said the legislation has made it imperative to understand what the expectations are for students and for the students to be more aware of those expectations as well.She discussed the Third-Grade Retention law while touring the capitol with other Memphis teachers and parents.Memphis Business Academy teacher Sylvia Anderson was also among those visiting and she echoed many of Mason’s thoughts about the Third-Grade Retention Law.Anderson said the new law has made it critical to identify why a student is below reading level before the third grade and help them work past that.“If a child misses something that causes them [to fall behind on reading], you need to figure out what they missed and implement something to help them catch up,” said Anderson. “Reading starts at home. Then it’s implementing it in kindergarten, the first, the second grade. Catch them before they get to the third grade. Because now you have crushed a child. It’s not their fault they can’t read.”