As a principal, Heather Hendrich admires the intention behind a proposal by Gov. Mitch Daniels, that any child who is not reading at grade level by the end of third grade should not be promoted.

However, the Western Intermediate School principal said retention is more complicated than that, and should be based on more than if a child can read at grade level.

“We all can agree learning how to read is a foundational skill all our kids must have. To place that rule over all children is a little hard to swallow,” Hendrich said.

Daniels proposed the bill in his State of the State address last week. It would require that children who cannot read at third-grade level by the time they finish third grade would not move on to fourth grade, starting in the 2012-2013 school year. Exceptions would be made for some students, including those with disabilities or those held back for two or more years.

Around the Kokomo area, elementary principals have questioned the effectiveness of the idea, saying research does not show much positive impact from having a child repeat a grade level. Many also said they already have effective intervention in place starting with kindergartners, and that they are already working toward every child reading at grade level.

Ron Owings, Northwestern Elementary principal, said teachers at his school work with local preschool teachers and child care providers to know what kindergarten students are at risk of struggling with school, and provide remediation immediately.

Owings agrees that students who cannot read will struggle with school, but “the overall message from research on retention is, it simply doesn’t work for most students, regardless of the grade level.”

He said students are retained at Northwestern Elementary, but only after the child’s teacher presents a strong case, including plans for what he or she will do differently with the child if he is retained.

Instead, Owings said, the students need “terrific classroom instruction,” supplemented with intense remedial help.

He said with school budgets being cut, it would be hard to find the resources for the intervention required by Daniels’ bill.

Taylor Primary School Principal Shannon Richards said the Taylor schools already have an effective intervention in place between third and fourth grades.

“When they move to the intermediate school, if they cannot maintain the pace of the typical fourth- or fifth-grade class, we have a built-in system of transition classrooms,” she said.

Richards said at the primary school, accountability begins at kindergarten. When considering retaining a child, she said, team members look at whether the child is coming to school regularly, making progress on tests but not in the classroom and other factors.

“I think you have to look more at the whole child, not just one piece,” she said. “Although reading is the core for success in school, there are a lot of children with reading disabilities who are successful. There are ways to adapt.”

Hendrich, at Western Intermediate School, thinks Western is on the right track, with a goal of having every child at his or her grade level by third grade.

She said Superintendent Peter O’Rourke has supported that corporation goal by funding reading specialists at both elementary schools.

Hendrich said they also use the DIBELS reading assessment, which shows the child’s reading level, strengths and weaknesses, and provides ideas to help the child.

“Our teachers are then sharing these ideas with the parents. I think everyone would agree the single most important thing is just reading with your child from the time they are young,” she said.

Eastern Principal Randy Maurer said his school corporation focuses on early literacy by sponsoring the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which provides a free book to every child in the district, from birth to age 5.

He said having the Greentown Public Library in the school also provides literacy resources for preschool children, to help them be ready to read when they come to kindergarten.

Maurer said he is concerned about being required to retain children because “data shows that once you retain a child, you lower their chance at graduation.”

Dave Barnes, Kokomo-Center Schools public relations consultant, also said research shows children who are retained are “much more likely to drop out of school during their teenage years.”

When deciding about retaining, he said, school officials weigh how much progress a student has made and what interventions are available to help.

Barnes said because Indiana does not support early childhood education, or make kindergarten mandatory, children enter school at many levels.

“We have some kindergartners who can read, while others don’t know how to hold a pencil.”

He added that Kokomo-Center would not be able to afford these mandates at the same time state funding is being cut.

At the state house, the Associated Press reports disagreement between Daniels, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and lawmakers regarding the cost of the program.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimated the remediation efforts called for in the bill could cost schools up to $49 million.

Daniels said the agency must have misunderstood the bill, and the program shouldn’t cost anything.

“The fiscal [impact] of that bill is zero dollars and zero cents,” Daniels said.

Bennett suggested schools could provide remediation during the existing school day by having students skip recess or fine arts classes or by making other arrangements. He said parents, volunteers or community mentors could help teachers work with retained students and local principals and superintendents could find creative solutions.

Indiana Department of Education data shows nearly a quarter of third-graders fail the reading section of annual statewide tests. With about 80,000 third-graders in state public schools, that means up to 20,000 kids could be retained each year.

• Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at 765-454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com.