The state also invested substantial support for
early readers and focused on
retaining 3rd graders who fail to read at
grade level; state law allows for, but does not require, those
students to be held back, which both Skandera and Martinez criticized as insufficient
in a state with exceptionally low rates of adult literacy.
We investigate this possibility
in the context of the
early grade retention policy
in Florida, which requires all
students with reading skills below
grade level to be
retained in the third
grade, yet grants exemptions under special circumstances.