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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.

LANSING — With Michigan ranking below most other states in fourth-grade literacy, some education advocates are calling on the state to bring back a controversial law requiring schools to hold struggling third graders back. Retention is the “elephant in every room that I go into,” said Kymyona Burk, the former Mississippi state literacy director.

Burk was among three panelists at a discussion last week organized by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy on “”What Michigan Can Learn About Reading From Mississippi.” Once at the bottom, Mississippi has increased its fourth grade reading rankings to ninth on the most recent national test in what some have dubbed the “Mississippi Miracle.” Meanwhile, Michigan has fallen. States across the country are looking to Mississippi for guidance.

“So retention is seen as a last resort,” said Burk, who led Mississippi’s implementation of its literacy law and is now a senior policy fellow at ExcelinEd, an education policy advocacy organization founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “It’s our goal to ensure that students weren’t being socially promoted to the next grade without having the knowledge and skills.”

Last week’s discussion marked at least the third time in the past year where current or former Mississippi literacy officials or players have visited Michigan leaders to talk about literacy. Former Mississippi State Superintendent Carey Wright spoke to the Business Leaders for Michigan group in November. At Michigan’s Literacy Summit in December, three Mississippians spoke on the state’s literacy gains. State Rep. Nancy DeBoer, R-Holland, and Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, attended the event.

The conversation comes at a crucial time: fourth graders rank 44th in reading on a national test, lawmakers are discussing options to mandate literacy training for teachers and school districts are in the midst of implementing new curricula.

Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidates are making education a central issue in their campaigns, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said literacy is her number one priority in her final months in office.

Mississippi has a third grade retention law while Michigan currently does not and some Mississippi school districts offer summer school to help students with reading skills. Summer school teacher Amelita Ross told Bridge literacy instruction is ‘way more focused’ since the state passed a law with a high-stakes third grade test.

Mississippi requires schools to screen K-3 students for reading skills, notify parents if their student is struggling and hold struggling third graders back.

Under a Republican-backed law signed in 2016, starting in the 2019-2020 school year, Michigan districts had been required to hold back third grade students who struggled to read. But the pandemic’s halt on testing and wide use of exemptions meant few students were held back before Whitmer and a Democratic-led Legislature repealed the retention requirement in 2023.

“I think some form of retention — it could be helpful. I don’t know if people are ready to vote for that,” said DeBoer, chair of the House Education Committee. Senate Education Chair Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, said she is not going to support an effort to hold back third-graders, especially when Michigan outperforms Mississippi on eighth grade reading.

“I reject the notion that a miracle has taken place based on flunking third graders in Mississippi,” Polehanki said. “I’m happy for them that they’ve increased student literacy supports, but until I see them carrying that out longitudinally and doing better than Michigan does by the time the kids reach eighth grade, I’m not sure how you can log that as a miracle.”

Research is mixed on the benefits of holding students back, and states vary on what additional support they provide students who repeat third grade. A study of Michigan third graders found that students who scored just below the cutoff and were flagged for retention scored higher on tests a year later than students who scored just above the cutoff.

In Mississippi, one study found that students who were held back later had higher English language arts scores and the same attendance rates as students who scored just above the cutoff. A new study of Texas students found that those held back were less likely to graduate high school and had lower wages at age of 26.

Burk said she would like to see more research on the effect of specific supports students receive when they repeat third grade, not just the effect of retention.

Chris Hobson, a second grade teacher at Hillsdale Community Schools who spoke at the event, told said she is not sure if the state should go back to holding third graders back but she does think there “needs to be some accountability.”

If Michigan brought back retention requirements, Hobson said, there would need to be “a little bit more in depth” since “retention isn’t a fix-all, it’s kind of a Band Aid.”

Both Mississippi and Michigan have literacy coaches aimed at helping teachers improve their reading instruction skills. In Mississippi, teachers at the lowest-performing schools underwent a “science of reading” course called LETRS. Word of mouth helped ensure more teachers took it too, Burk said. Now, Mississippi uses a training program called AIM Pathways. Michigan has already put $44 million toward LETRS training. DeBoer is sponsoring a bill that would require K-5 teachers to complete the training while a different bill would add training requirements for teacher certification.

DeBoer said she is still talking to the state superintendent about ways to incorporate training as part of the school year and ensure teachers receive continuing education credits for taking the course.

So far, 6,300 teachers have completed the training and another 5,600 people are taking the course, State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko previously said. He said there are an estimated 44,000 additional K-5 instructors who need to be trained. Lawmakers are in the process of discussing education priorities in their budget proposals.

Polehanki urged state leaders to consider following the example of Massachusetts, which routinely ranks at or near the top of national rankings. She said it’s “baffling” that others aren’t talking about Massachusetts and that funding is important for improving student achievement. An analysis from EdTrust-Midwest finds that if Michigan funded students from low-income backgrounds like Massachusetts, the state would spend $4.2 billion more annually.