Ending Social Promotion Results in Better Readers

  Ending Social Promotion Results in Better Readers
2010 Third Grade FCAT Scores Prove Benefits of Policy

TALLAHASSEE – The Foundation for Florida’s Future applauds Sunshine State students and educators for continued progress in reading and math.  Today’s announcement of third grade results on the FCAT again prove that the policies of high expectations and accountability are working.   Florida’s remarkable improvement in reading started in 1999 with the enactment of school grades, followed in 2003 with an end to social promotion for students who couldn’t read independently by the end of the third grade.

“In fourth grade, students transition from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’ Students who can’t read by the end of the third grade are more likely to fall further and further behind in the next grades,” said Patricia Levesque, Executive Director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future.  “Today’s results continue to prove that ending social promotion in third grade places a command focus on learning to read.  As a result of this important policy, more students are learning to read in that critical year.

Since 2001, the number of third graders reading on or above grade level rose from 57 percent to 72 percent.  During the same timeframe, the number of third graders who earned the lowest score on the FCAT in reading plummeted by nearly half, from 29 percent to 16 percent.

For more information on the Foundation for Florida’s Future’s commitment to advocating policies that keep the promise of a quality education for all of Florida’s students, please visit www.afloridapromise.org.