Statewide, an estimate of 92 percent of third graders have achieved a passing score on the Third Grade Reading Summative Assessment, otherwise known as the reading gate. The passing rate incorporates the results of the first test administration in April, the first retest in May and the final retest over the summer. The statewide passing rate for the initial test was 85 percent.

Students had to score at least 926 on the assessment to be eligible for promotion to the fourth grade.

Locally, the Brookhaven School District posted numbers slightly below the state’s, with 89.5 percent of third graders passing and 10.5 failing. That’s about 23 students, down from 55 who didn’t pass the first test in April.

Overall, the Lincoln County School District had greater than 95 percent pass, with less than 5 percent fail. The Mississippi Dept. of Education did not provide more specific numbers. Only Enterprise Attendance Center had numbers lower than the state’s, with 90.9 percent passing and 9.1 percent failing. That’s about five students. After the April test, Enterprise Attendance Center Principal Shannon Eubanks said two students would qualify for good cause exemptions and would promote to fourth grade.

“We confirmed what the teachers already were telling us,” Eubanks said then.

Eubanks said the only students who will fail the reading tests are those with failing or borderline grades in reading.

“No student with all As is going in and failing,” he said. “We spent a whole lot of money, created a lot of angst, a lot of pressure when the results were being told to us already.”

Statewide, the number of students who did not pass the test is 2,907. Local school districts are responsible for determining which of their students who did not pass qualify for one of the good cause exemptions for promotion to fourth grade.

Eligible for exemptions are students who have been learning English for fewer than two years, students with significant cognitive disabilities, special education students who have had two or more years of intervention and already flunked once, or any students with two or more years of intervention who have failed twice.

Lawmakers and Gov. Phil Bryant say it’s preferable to hold back students who can’t read at a basic level to give them special attention.

“The third grade reading scores prove that Mississippi teachers and students are up to the challenge of making literacy a priority, and the improvement we have seen from the first test to the final test proves that the extra help these students and teachers are receiving as a result of the third grade gate is making a difference,” Bryant said in a statement.

Many researchers disagree, saying failing a grade leads to higher dropout rates and the harm outweighs the benefit. Others support the law, but say the $39.5 million spent by the state wasn’t enough to prepare, considering less than two years passed between legislative action and the first test.