SB4 Summary

• Postpones implementation of the Alabama Literacy Act's third grade retention requirement from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2024-2025 school year.

• Requires third grade students to demonstrate sufficient reading skills before promotion to fourth grade, with three options available: scoring above the lowest achievement level on a board-approved reading assessment, earning an acceptable score on an alternative standardized reading assessment, or demonstrating mastery of third grade reading standards through a student portfolio.

• Students who fail to demonstrate sufficient reading skills may be retained unless they qualify for one of four good cause exemptions: students with disabilities exempt from statewide assessment, English language learners with less than two years of instruction, students with disabilities who received two or more years of intensive intervention, or students without disabilities who received two or more years of intensive intervention and were previously retained.

• Requires each local education agency to provide comprehensive reading instruction based on the science of reading, reading intervention programs for students with deficiencies, summer reading camps with at least 70 hours of instruction, and intensive support for incoming third graders with reading deficiencies.

• Mandates annual reporting by school districts to the State Superintendent of Education regarding student reading proficiency, dyslexia identification, intervention program participation, and retention rates.