Retention. The word alone can make parents wince and educators bristle. The idea of a child being held back — separated from friends, labeled as “behind” — feels punitive and archaic. No one wants to see a third grader punished for struggling.
And yet, in Utah, we face a far more uncomfortable truth: Nearly half of our third graders — about 50% — are not reading on grade level. That is not merely disappointing. It is unconscionable.
Utah Senate Bill 241, the state’s early literacy bill proposal, includes retention as part of an intensive system of support for struggling readers. Critics have focused almost exclusively on that single word — retention — while missing the larger, more urgent story.
SB241 is not about punishment. It is about prevention and intervention.
The importance of being able to read on a third-grade reading level by the end of the third grade cannot be overemphasized. In some sense, it is equivalent to not graduating from high school. A longitudinal study of third graders from 2008-2017 has shown that of all the students who fail to reach grade level reading by the end of the third grade, only 11.5% of those students catch up to the state average by high school. In addition, third graders who do not reach reading benchmarks at the end of the third grade are four more times likely to drop out of high school and will likely earn far less than high school and college graduates during their lifetime.
The tragedy is that this outcome can be avoided. Research over the past quarter century shows that at least 90% of children can learn to read proficiently when schools provide systematic, research-based instruction and timely intervention. The problem is not our children.
That is why SB241 matters.
Let’s be clear: SB241 is not a “retention bill.” It is a retention-plus bill. Retention is one component of a comprehensive literacy engine designed to ensure that no child moves forward without the foundational skills that determine so much of their future.
States across the country have adopted early-grade literacy policies that include retention as a safeguard — one piston among others in a larger, coordinated machine driving students toward reading competency. Retention is not the key. Rather, retention serves as intervention and accountability pieces in a robust system of literacy supports.
For SB241 to succeed, funding must be paired with unwavering commitment. Achieving 80% reading proficiency will require meaningful changes in how schools operate. As W. Edwards Deming stated, every system is perfectly designed to get the result it gets. K-3 reading in Utah needs a significant redesign. Tinkering around the edges cannot get K-3 reading to 80 or 90%.
What does it take to achieve 80%+ proficiency?
● A relentless superintendent, principal and school board-driven focus on K–3 reading improvement.
● A guaranteed 120 minutes per day of explicit, research-based literacy instruction in early grades.
● Strong, collaborative teacher teams in kindergarten through third grade.
● Expert literacy coaches trained in the science of reading.
This is not about holding children back in a broken, hobbled system. It is about fixing the system so thoroughly that retention becomes rare.
If we continue promoting students who cannot read proficiently, we are not being compassionate. We are being complacent. We are sending children forward into increasing academic frustration and long-term disadvantage.
The real cruelty is not retention. It is allowing nearly half of our students to leave third grade without the skill that unlocks every other subject — in science, social studies, civics, health, even math that increasingly depends on solving word problems.
SB241 challenges us to raise our expectations — to refuse to rest until we near 100%. It calls on school boards, districts, charter schools, principals, teachers and parents to rally around a simple, powerful conviction: Every child can read, and we will not give up until they do.
Retention should never be the goal. Literacy is.
If we are serious about the futures of Utah’s children, we must have the courage to do what works — even when it makes us uncomfortable.