Reading proficiency, particularly early reading up to third grade, is shaping up to be a major focus of the upcoming legislative session, which begins on February 2, 2026.

State Senator Micheal Bergstrom (R-Adair) and state Representative Rob Hall (R-Tulsa) filed SB1271 and HB2944, the Oklahoma Reading Excellence through Accountability, Development, and Standards (READS) Act, which emphasizes early interventions for K–3 students who are falling behind, reimplements the policy of retaining third graders who do not read at grade level, and invests in high quality reading coaches.

Most interested parties are supportive of early interventions and investing in reading coaches. However, the policy of retaining third graders who don’t read at grade level is somewhat controversial. 

Back in 2015, shortly after the implementation of the Mississippi Literacy Based Promotion Act (LBPA), a Mississippi education reporting outlet published an article highly critical of the law’s third-grade retention policy (which is very similar to the policy being proposed in the Oklahoma READS Act). The article used emotional accounts of third graders with test anxiety, stated that parents and educators were opposed to the policy, and claimed that it’s unfair to “punish” students when the state’s reading issues are actually the result of improper funding. The article belabored the funding issue but also discussed the supposed emotional damage and long-term harm caused by retention policies. One expert quoted in the article claimed that any reading proficiency increases from the policy would be negligible, but that it would lead to dramatic increases in the dropout rate. She maintained that promoting the failing third graders and simply providing them with extra help in fourth grade would be a far more successful approach. 

Fast forward to 2025. Mississippi legislators stuck to their guns, despite the criticism, and the policy has proven to be wildly successful. The results are known nationwide as the “Mississippi Miracle.”

In just 10 years, Mississippi moved from nearly dead-last in fourth-grade reading proficiency to the top 10. In addition, a case study from the Wheelock Educational Policy Center showed that retention had positive long-term results. The study tracked students from the first cohort subject to retention under the LBPA and broke them into two groups: those who barely passed the statewide reading test and those who were held back. The study found that retained students had significantly higher sixth-grade English Language Arts scores than their peers who were just barely promoted. It also noted that retention had no significant effect on absenteeism or dropout rates.  

 In 2023, the same education reporting outlet mentioned above published another piece about the LBPA. The tone in that piece was markedly different. The article highlighted a summer reading program hosted by the Mississippi Children’s Museum in partnership with the Jackson school district. The goal of the program is to help students prepare for the statewide reading test. Delacy Bridges, the principal of a participating elementary school, painted the retention policy in a positive light. According to the article, she believes retaining students should not be looked at as failure but as an opportunity for them to excel and succeed. “Retention gives us educators an opportunity to see what are the true deficits to fill those gaps. Obviously, sending them to the next grade level while they’re underperforming can harm the child and hinder their growth, and we don’t want that,” she said.

The doom-and-gloom prophecies from 2015 did not come to pass. Educators, parents, and students saw incredible success from the LBPA. Kudos to the Mississippi Legislature for sticking with the law. Now it’s Oklahoma’s turn, and the playbook is clear: implement a bill with a third-grade retention policy, tune out the noise, and let the results speak for themselves.