Third grade speed-reading benchmark raises doubts at education forum

Editor's note: This is part one of a three-part series.
  Starting in 2016-2017 (fiscal 2017), Iowa students may be held back at the third-grade level if they can’t read “adequately” or pass a 90-hour summer school. Current discussion is to base reading adequacy on a speed-reading test.
  The North Butler Legislative Forum on Education brought leaders at the state and community level together to discuss the so-called third-grade retention proposal — as well as the teacher leadership program and one-cent sales tax, which will be discussed in later issues. The administration and school board hosted the forum on Nov. 10 at the North Butler Elementary Auditorium.
  Jason Glass, former director of the Iowa Department of Education (before Brad Buck), described after the 2012 legislative session a plan of the DE on third-grade retention, in a memo to education stakeholders.
  Read more in the Nov. 19 Butler County Tribune-Journal and Clarksville Star.