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Read by Grade Three
Read by Grade Three
In 2016, Michigan passed legislation known as "Read by Grade Three" (sometimes referred to as the "third grade reading law"). While there has been wide criticism of this law being enforced for the first time this year, the Michigan Department of Education has advised school districts to continue to make preparations for the law. One component of this law is that third grade students can be labeled as "eligible for retention" based on their Spring 2021 M-STEP scores. At UPrep Schools we have always believed that retention and promotion conversations should be rooted in collaborative discussions with multiple stakeholders and several relevant pieces of data. Even with the advent of this law, our position remains the same.
If you are the parent or guardian of a current third grader, your student has completed the spring M-STEP testing and their scores are becoming available to school and district administrators. If your child is affected by Michigan's Read by Grade Three Legislation (based on their M-STEP scores), you will receive outreach from your child's school director with additional information on the process and ways we will support you in understanding the law and advocating for your child.
You can read more about UPrep's stance on Read by Grade Three in this letter from our Chief of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Curtis Lewis. If you have questions about the law or UPrep's position, please reach out your child's school director or Kristin Venier, Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Elementary Literacy at UPrep Schools (kristin.venier@uprepschools.com).
Good Cause Exemption Forms
Good Cause Exemption Forms
If your third grade student has been affected by the Read by Grade Three legislation, you have been contacted by a teacher or administrator from your school. You can complete a Good Cause Exemption Form to advocate that your child moves on to fourth grade with supports that meet their individual needs. There are three ways to complete a Good Cause Exemption; all three contain the same information and accomplish the same goal. You can choose the format that best suits your needs. If you need support or guidance completing the form, please reach out to your school director.
Click on the link above to access the electronic form. Complete the form for your student.
Click submit when you are finished with your form. You will automatically be sent a copy via email.
Click on the link above to make a copy of the form. Complete the form in Google Docs and send/share to Kristin Venier, Senior Director of Curriculum & Instruction for Elementary Literacy (kristin.venier@uprepschools.com).
Click on the link above. Print the form and complete it by hand. Once you are finished, you can bring the form to your school or mail the form to
UPrep Schools
Attn: Kristin Venier
485 Milwaukee Ave. Ste.300,
Detroit MI 48202
"If you can read, you can do anything."
"If you can read, you can do anything."
During my third year of teaching, one of my fourth graders had this revelation. Jada had struggled with reading early in elementary school but as she continued to work through reading skills and strategies, she began to see how the world could be opened to her as long as she could read.
We find ourselves now in an unprecedented time; our world is being turned upside down and educational experiences are being pushed to distance learning.
I promise you, each one of our teachers wants desperately to be in their classrooms teaching. However, at this point, it is clear that we must ensure that we do our best to keep everyone safe. At UPrep Schools, we honor you as your child's first reading teacher and we know you are our most valuable partner as we use distance learning to ensure that all students can read and write well. I hope that this website serves as the digital headquarters for information that will help you support your child while we are away from the school buildings. Your child's teacher may direct you here for assignments that are in their GoogleClassroom or Class Dojo work.
This site will be ever-evolving and I sincerely look forward to your feedback on how to improve its content and features for you. Please bookmark the site and visit often.
All the best,
Kristin Venier
Senior Director of Curriculum & Instruction, K-5 ELA
Note: This site is internal and available for UPrep Schools users. The content is a mix of materials that have been created by our organization and resources that have been curated from other sources. We have paid for and tried to give due credit on the resources that we did not create.
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