The Ohio Legislature passed Senate Bill 316, which Governor John Kasich signed into law. Senate Bill 316 includes changes and reforms that directly affect elementary schools, including the addition of the “Third Grade Guarantee,” and the following actions to be taken by all elementary schools throughout the State of Ohio:
- Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year and moving forward, districts are required to conduct reading assessments on all students in grades K-3. This must be completed for First through Third Graders by September 30 and Kindergarteners by November 1.
- As a result of those assessments, teachers must identify students as “On Track” (meaning that their performance is meeting expectations for students entering the current grade level) or “Not on Track” (meaning that their performance is currently below expectations for the grade level to which they are entering).
- School districts are required to notify parents of students identified as “Not on Track” with a letter following the completion of assessments.
- A reading improvement and monitoring plan (RIMP) must also be completed that will describe the intervention and monitoring to remedy the child’s specific reading deficiencies.
- Starting with students who entered third grade in the 2013-14 school year, we will not be able to promote students to fourth grade who score below a designated level on the Reading portion of the ELA State Test. There will be some exceptions for students who are English Language Learners and for some students with disabilities.