Reading exams

This article supports something that I have promoted in my campaign for State Senator last year. It states,

And that is: Don't promote from third to fourth grade those who can't read.

The article then points out that this is what Florida has done.

In 1999, Florida instituted secondary education reform, including performance-based pay for teachers, grading schools, annual tests and, most importantly, curbing social promotion. Florida students must pass the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test before being promoted to the fourth grade.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush notes that in 1998 nearly half of Florida's fourth-graders were functionally illiterate, while today 72 percent can read.

Florida has improved their education standards while Nevada continues to fail to adequately teach our children. The article finishes with this statement.

But data already available, including the judgment of qualified teachers, might be adequate to make the responsible decision to hold back children who have not mastered the material.

The problem is stated very well by a comment to this article.

At the end of the school year my wife will be blamed for having a large number of D and F students who can't pass the CRT tests, and those kids won't be held back for remediation because CCSD doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. God forbid any teachers here set high - or even mediocre - standards and expect students to meet those standards. There is no support from CCSD, the schools, the parents, or the community. You reap what you sow, which unfortunately will be a semi-literate population good only for service-industry jobs, welfare, and prison.

His wife is a teacher that is trapped in a system that doesn't demand that children learn. If we continue this way, we will have a state of illiterates unable to get a job.