Richland 1 staff outline Act 114 retention rules, intervention tracking and summer-camp expansion

District staff told the Richland County School District 1 Committee on Instruction and Curriculum on Sept. 2 that South Carolina’s Read to Succeed law (Act 114) will require stricter documentation and mandatory third-grade retention beginning in the 2024–25 school year, with a set of limited "good-cause" exemptions and new district monitoring tools.

The presenter summarized the law’s requirements and the district’s plan, saying, "Beginning with the 2024–25 school year any student that is not reading on grade level must be retained," and outlined exemptions for students with limited English proficiency with fewer than two years of services, students with IEPs or 504 plans that contain reading goals for more than two years, and students who have already had two years of intervention and prior retention.

Why it matters: the state’s Read to Succeed goal is that at least 75% of students read at or above grade level by 2030. District staff reported recent gains but noted the system has more work to reach that benchmark; the presenter said district proficiency rose about 7.5 percentage points this year to roughly 51–52%.

Key implementation steps and supports District staff described a multi-step communications and documentation timeline required by the state and supplemented locally. The district will notify all third graders (and, locally, pre-K through grade 3) early in the year, convene conferences for at-risk students, administer SC Ready in the fourth quarter and invite eligible students to summer reading camp. Staff said the state department will fund summer reading camp for third grade and, this year, will additionally fund first grade.

To support interventions, the district will require individualized reading plans (IRPs) for any student retained under the law and for students promoted via good-cause exemptions. Presenters said IRPs began in May, are used to inform summer-camp instruction and must be reviewed with parents and school teams; the first set of reviews and uploads to the district system are due by Sept. 11.

Documentation, accountability and staffing Miss Durdevant, who led the discussion of paperwork and monitoring, described a detailed priority-student checklist and intervention documentation forms the district will use to record parent conferences, progress monitoring, MTSS meetings and other evidence required for appeals. She cautioned district leaders to follow the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for reading coaches closely: "We have to follow this MOA to the letter ... if we violate this MOA, they ask for the funds back," she said, stressing that state monitoring can require fund recoupment if rules are not followed.

The district’s new priority tracker spreadsheet will include STAR scale scores, report-card data, MTSS meeting dates and flags for possible exemptions; staff emphasized the tracker was developed in-house to prevent students from "falling through the cracks." Reading coaches and principals are responsible for jointly completing the checklist and intervention records; executive directors will inspect school-level folders for compliance.

Instructional programs and training Staff described instructional supports, including Orton–Gillingham and LETRS training for teachers. The presenter said district teachers have had Orton–Gillingham training since 2022 and that LETRS professional learning is state-funded. For summer programming, the district will use RISE (Reading Improves Students, Inspires Students to Excel) in a 2-teacher-per-18–20-student model and will pilot RISE at seven elementary schools this year.

Assessment and appeals District staff said the district uses STAR as its approved alternative assessment; presenters referenced a STAR cut score (reported in the presentation as "941") as one path to demonstrating proficiency on an alternative assessment. If parents request appeals of retention decisions, schools must submit the documented evidence package to the district and, subsequently, to the state; staff said missing documentation complicates appeals and must be handled case by case.

Early-childhood supports and parent engagement Committee members and staff discussed external factors that affect early reading — access to books, language exposure, trauma and nutrition — and recommended limiting device time for very young children while providing concrete manipulatives at home. Staff noted Thrive Richland and other district efforts provide kits and resources for families. Literacy coaches will receive copies of a parent-facing booklet (Raising a Rock Star Reader) to distribute tips at engagement nights; the district requires a Read to Succeed parent night at each elementary school.

Next steps and follow-up The committee did not take formal votes. Staff said they will provide counts of good-cause exemptions from prior years on request and continue piloting RISE at seven schools. The meeting adjourned with committee members praising the district’s tracker and accountability approach.

Attributions: quotes and characterizations in this story come from the meeting transcript and are attributed to speakers as listed in the district committee record: the Chair (meeting chair), Commissioner Clyburn (committee member), Presenter(s) from the district teaching-and-learning team and Miss Durdevant (intervention/documentation lead).