A note on Tennessee’s third grade retention policy:

Speaking of intensity, Tennessee’s absurd Third Grade Retention Law continues marching onward like a zombie policy nobody wants to admit doesn’t work the way it was originally advertised.

And as always, the media coverage continues to miss the mark.

The Tennessean recently reported that the release of third-grade reading scores “set off a fast-moving timeline to determine if tens of thousands of public school students will be held back or not.”

Technically, that’s true.

Practically, everybody involved knows it’s nonsense.

Despite years of political rhetoric and public fearmongering, Tennessee has retained fewer than 600 students annually under the law since its implementation. That number even includes students voluntarily retained by parents.

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