re: Math and reading scores for 13-year-olds in the U.S. have hit the lowest levels in decades

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Standardized tests are awful. There is a law now in TN that if you don't pass as a thrid grader you have to be held back or go to summer school. But these were all Covid kids who had to do Zoom school the first part of elementary. Thats not fair.

Retention Law

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I'm not crazy about basing retention on a standardized test result versus actual developmentally appropriate benchmarks.

Aside from that though, I don't see an issue with retention if it's actually needed. The law reads that they would have to show, after summer school instruction, that they have "adequate growth". I don't see an issue with that if growth is more strictly defined (the language of the law is too vague).

Realistically, if educators believe a student should be retained it shouldn't be up to the parent if that is allowed. That's a major issue here in elementary schools. A teacher can recommend a child be retained but the parent decides whether it happens or not.

That's part of the reason you end up with 6th graders who are 2-3 grades behind in reading/math and it's not realistic to expect a teacher to make that up in a year.