LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas education officials are promoting more “acceleration” in schools because they believe students can handle more rigorous content, the Secretary of Education told legislators.
Acceleration means teaching middle schoolers more subjects that used to be strictly limited to high schools. It means encouraging high school students to take concurrent college courses, so they already have college credits under their belt when they do enroll in a college or university.
The Secretary also spoke about the scores that Arkansas students achieved on recent standardized tests, in light of higher literacy standards embodied in the LEARNS Act of 2023. That act made sweeping reforms throughout all aspects of public education in Arkansas. The secretary particularly addressed questions about the effect those standards would have on this year’s third graders.
The LEARNS Act says that students who cannot read at third grade reading levels will not be promoted to the fourth grade. However, it allows exemptions, and the Secretary explained how those exemptions would likely affect students.
The question caused concern for some legislators, who noted that based on the scores of recent standardized tests, as many as 10,000 third graders might be held back from entering the fourth grade next year. The Secretary addressed those concerns, saying that students can get special help as early as in kindergarten if they have trouble reading.
Help might be an individual tutor, or summer classes focused entirely on literacy. The student may only need extra work in a small group. It’s important to monitor student progress so that teachers learn which methods are most effective.
The Secretary said that a lot of factors would be considered before a student is held back from fourth grade. For example, they may not be native English speakers or they may have a learning disability that exempts them from the standards in the LEARNS Act.
Over the long term, legislators and educators will watch what happens with this year’s third graders because about a third are not reading at proficient levels. It’s important to correct that trend so that they can thrive in later grades. Research indicates that academic problems usually get worse in middle school and high school for students who struggle with reading in elementary school.
The Secretary also briefed legislators about CTE, which stands for Career and Technical Education. It is a path towards a high school diploma for students who don’t go to a college or university. Legislation enacted in 2023 and 2025 creates more opportunities for those students to prepare for a productive career, working at a well-paid job that’s in demand.
In a nutshell, the goal is to prepare every high school graduate for enlistment in the military, enrollment in higher education or employment in a productive job.
It’s important that high schools prepare for in-demand careers, rather than menial jobs. The state Education Department’s initial list had 18 career pathways, including banking, accounting, business finance, several categories in computer science, welding, construction, automotive service, criminal justice and agriculture.
2025-09-05 19:58:00