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District outlines policy changes under Act 114, including summer reading camp and retention rules
Summary
Chief of academics presented grouped policy revisions in response to South Carolina's Read to Succeed Act (Act 114): mandatory interventions, MAP cut score use, summer reading camp requirements, and clarified good-cause exemptions for third-grade retention.
The board reviewed grouped policy revisions required by the state Read to Succeed law (Act 114), including updates to ELA instruction, summer school, promotion/retention and state assessments. Chief of Academics Tina McCaskill said the policies implement the law’s expectations for identifying and remediating students who do not meet the state cut score for third-grade reading.
McCaskill explained the district will use MAP scores (with the does-not-meet cut score set at 186) as part of identification and that parents of at-risk third graders must be offered a detailed January conference and a supplemental instruction plan. She summarized available good-cause exemptions and the process for teacher/principal recommendations to prevent retention in narrowly defined circumstances. McCaskill acknowledged a drafting error and agreed to remove a now-prohibited “lapse” exemption from the policy language.
Trustees asked how the district will handle schools with high student turnover and whether earlier interventions (K–2) should be emphasized. Board members and staff discussed using prior MAP scores, a summer-reading-camp evaluation (students must reach a higher threshold at camp exit), and the formal appeal process for third-grade retention. McCaskill urged robust intervention earlier in elementary grades and noted that the district will phase implementation across grades per the law.
