Read by 3 editorial spot on

Kudos for the excellent editorial “Gutting Read by 3” (Sept. 6 Review-Journal). It was spot on.

As it aptly pointed out, most students in the future who should repeat third grade based on test scores most likely will be socially promoted anyway.

An estimated 11,000 students would currently face retention if the law were in effect now. Retention is not punishment but an opportunity to achieve proficiency in reading before entering the fourth grade.

Reading is key to learning; hence a key to success. With such large numbers of students in need of remediation, many will be repeating with their classmates. No stigma there.

Social promotion is cruel, because struggling third-graders will become struggling fourth-graders and so on. Eventually many will drop out of school. My grandson, at his parents’ request, repeated second grade. Last spring he completed middle school and received a scholastic achievement award.

There was a time when students had to pass proficiency tests to graduate from high school. Showing up and passing classes was insufficient. Students had multiple chances to take these proficiency tests, and teachers participated in practice sessions to help students pass. Eventually, most students did. Some did not. A diploma meant something.

Today, unsurprisingly, proficiency tests do not exist, and students who did not pass them now can retroactively receive a diploma. Over 50 percent of Nevada’s third-graders did not score high enough to proceed to the fourth grade. Will any be retained? Unlikely. Read by 3 will just go away as did the proficiency exams. Welcome to Nevada.