Arkansas is about to implement a high-stakes element of the Right to Read Act: beginning this summer, third-graders who aren’t reading proficiently can be retained. That reality is creating understandable anxiety for families and educators.
In my new The 74 analysis, I make a simple, evidence-based point: retention by itself won’t raise literacy. What moved outcomes in places like Mississippi (and what matters in other states’ evidence too) is the full package—early identification, structured interventions, tutoring/coaching, and sustained support before and after any promotion decision. Retention can be a policy lever, but the supports are the mechanism.
If you’re tracking science-of-reading reforms, promotion gates, and what it takes to make them work in practice, this is the core takeaway: don’t debate retention in isolation—debate the capacity and resourcing around it.
Read the piece here: Arkansas Will Soon Hold Back Kids Who Can’t Read. But That Alone Is Not Enough (The 74, Feb. 19, 2026).
Education, economics and public policy 