The 3rd Grade Trap

Dyslexic students need more time

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Third grade. It’s the most important year of school. At least that’s what I have been told, again and again, over the past two decades. Third grade is said to be the pivotal year, the last chance to get it, the end of reading instruction and the transition to “reading to learn.”

“Fourth grade was the killer,” the Assistant Superintendent of my district told me. “Back in 2009, when we looked at our fourth graders, we found all these kids we had missed. We thought they were reading, but in fourth grade they struggled, fell off a cliff.”

I nodded at this, sitting adjacent to her in the school board conference room. Even as a homeschooler, I had my own fourth grade story. My second child had also seemed to be learning to read in the early years only to stall out and struggle with the more complex reading, writing and spelling of fourth grade.

Third grade is written into literacy goals and standards. My state’s literacy strategy explicitly states its goal is to “ensure every Connecticut student is reading at or above grade level independently and proficiently by the end of third grade.

I am all for the “right to read” laws passed across the nation. I applaud the goal of reaching all children. I agree the early years are vital. What I don’t accept is a one-size-fits-all third-grade standard. That standard is not appropriate for all students. As new reading laws are implemented it is becoming increasingly clear that the needs of dyslexic students are once again invisible. Standards are great, but dyslexic kids are still square pegs being forced into the narrow constraints of a system not built for them.

I read a heated twitter exchange recently where a reading interventionist wondered how struggling readers were going to fit in all the tier 2 and tier 3 interventions they needed without missing other class time or recess or having to add hours to the school day. The conversation played out as expected, with some folks reiterating the importance of the extra practice and intervention, and others arguing for the equal importance of play and art and science and history. What was never questioned was the ultimate goal of completing reading instruction by the end of third grade. Everyone agreed kids needed to be reading proficiently by the fourth grade or else they would never be able to keep up with the content of upper elementary.

I have taught three dyslexic students to read, and this framework of “get it done by third grade” misses the reality of dyslexia. My youngest child had the best reading instruction of the bunch (apologies to the first two, I was learning too). He began kindergarten with a structured literacy program and when he still struggled, I switched to the Barton Reading and Spelling Program in second grade.

The Barton Program moves at a snail’s pace. When he was tested in third grade his basic reading achievement was still only at the 16^th percentile, and his decoding was at the 9^th percentile. Barton introduces rules and concepts very systematically and works to mastery before moving on. For five years that was our reading, writing and spelling program. I provided everything else. I read aloud all the content knowledge for third, fourth and fifth grade. It wasn’t until sixth grade that he could reliably tackle school texts. I read instructions and math word problems and lab sheets and literature and chapters of history and science textbooks, all the while slowly and patiently working through the Barton progression.

It worked. Beautifully. If I could go back and do the same for my first two children, I would. My youngest entered seventh grade at the local middle school reading above grade level (though still somewhat slowly) and has continued into high school making stellar grades in honors courses with extra-time accommodations.

I could take the time needed because I homeschooled. I could teach him the way he needed to be taught because I wasn’t stuck in a model that defined success as all students reading proficiently by the end of third grade. It took twice as long. That, typically, is what dyslexic students need. This is what dyslexia specific private schools do, continuing reading, writing and spelling instruction well into middle school and even upper school.

Those of us who work with dyslexic kids know they need systematic instruction with extra repetition and practice. What takes ten repetitions for a typical student might take 50 or 100 for a dyslexic student. We know this!! Yet, somehow, we are not willing to let that knowledge transform the school system.

You cannot force 10x as much practice into three years. You cannot do it without sacrificing something else, and even if you could, it is not the same. One hundred repetitions over one week is not the same as steady practice and mastery over ten weeks, or ten months. I am sure the learning science experts can explain why this is so, but I don’t need them. I have seen it. Cramming for the test does not solidify knowledge the way steady learning and repetition over time does.

What might it look like to take this homeschool model to school. We should not expect our dyslexic students to be proficient by third grade. We should provide an alternative route, perhaps a separate class or even a separate school as some districts have done (remember these students are 10-20% of the school population). We should spread out their reading instruction, design their classrooms to accommodate their needs, provide necessary read alouds and writing accommodations so they can fully participate in the rest of their education while they are learning to read. It is necessary.

I think we accept too little for our dyslexic kids. We accept the intervention and breathe a sigh of relief when they become close to average. We have failed to demand they have to opportunity to be brilliant. It’s time to make some square classrooms for our square pegs.