This was snuck into a “comprehensive” education reform bill introduced and passed on the last day of legislative business about ten or fifteen years ago here in Missouri. I say “snuck”, because like Obamacare, no one had actually read the bill. Anyway about 3 months later, the feature was discovered. Children who could not read at the third-grade level would not be allowed into fourth grade.
People started doing the math. Next year’s third grade would be nearly twice as big as this year’s while fourth grade classes would be much smaller. In a few years elementary schools would find more than half of their student bodies in third grade—some of them might be shaving!
So, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education told schools that they could just ignore that part of the education reform bill (sound familiar?) until the General Assembly came to its senses and repealed that provision—which they eventually did.
As good as the idea might sound—requiring students to be able to actually read at grade level before being passed on—there would be some school districts that would have few, if any high school students, let alone high school graduates. And much more importantly, what would it do to the sports programs?
“And much more importantly, what would it do to the sports programs?”
I dunno, but my guess is Detroits 3rd grade basketball team would be legendary.