Third Grade Retention

The South Carolina Read to Succeed Act, which became law in 2014, aims to improve literacy and reading proficiency for all children in our state. Legislative updates to Read to Succeed in March 2024 include significant changes regarding promotion and retention of third-grade students.

Section 59-155-160 of Read to Succeed states, “Beginning with the 2024-2025 School Year, a student must be retained in the third grade if the student fails to demonstrate reading proficiency at the end of the third grade as indicated by scoring Does Not Meet Expectations or at the lowest achievement level on the state summative reading assessment.”