We urge the Ohio Legislature to end the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

During the lame-duck session, after passing the Ohio House by a margin of 82-10 and being endorsed by the Ohio State Board of Education, HB 497 was never considered by the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee and never forwarded for a vote by the full Ohio Senate. The 134th General Assembly has adjourned; the bill would have to be reintroduced again in a future General Assembly.

At its November, 2022 meeting, the Ohio State Board of Education passed a resolution urging the Ohio Senate to pass HB 497, thereby ending the Third Grade Guarantee’s mandatory retention in third grade for students who do not achieve a proficient score on the third-grade standardized language arts assessment.

• Third-Grade Retention, One Yearly Test Removed Under Proposed Ohio Education Bill, Susan Tebben, Ohio Capital Journal (December 2, 2022)

• Ohio Senate Should End Ohio’s Third Grade Guarantee by Passing HB 497, Jan Resseger’s Blog, (October 18, 2022)

• Educators, Government Officials Press for Eliminating Ohio’s ‘Third Grade Reading Guarantee’, Chantal Brown, Ohio Capital Journal (October 14, 2022)

• Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Retention Law Faces Opposition From Broad Coalition, Andy Chow, Statehouse News Bureau (October 10, 2022)

• Ohio House Votes to Drop Requirement that Kids Who Don’t Pass Third Grade Reading Guarantee Repeat the Year, Laura Hancock, cleveland.com (June 1, 2022)