When Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 127 into law in 2022, Utah set a goal: to have 70% of third graders statewide reach proficiency on the state-administered Acadience reading assessment by July 1, 2027.
Sixteen months before the deadline, a study by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute showed the Park City School District was the only school district in the state to meet the goal in 2025, with 70.1% of students proficient. Meanwhile, the Wasatch County School District ranked 30 out of 41 public school districts, with less than 50% of third graders proficient.
But those statistics are no longer accurate because a new law changes how the state defines reading proficiency.
When the institute performed the study, the state defined reading on grade level as scoring above the benchmark on the Acadience reading assessment. Therefore, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s data only included “blue” Acadience scores.
“The way Acadience works is you get a certain score, and then you’re either a blue, which means you’re above grade level; you’re a green, which is on grade level; you’re a yellow, just below grade level; (or) a red, which are the kids we’re really concerned about,” explained Superintendent Garrick Peterson.
Sixty-nine percent of Wasatch County School District third graders received a blue or green score on the Acadience assessment in 2025, according to Stacey Moore, the district’s chief of staff.
The state’s definition of reading proficiency changed to include both blue and green scores, those above and at grade level, after Cox signed S.B. 241 into law last week.
The law also supplants the old third-grade literacy goal for Utah: instead of 70% of third graders reading on grade level by July 1, 2027, the law shifts the goal to 80% by July 1, 2030.
Republican Sen. Ann Millner, who represents Davis, Morgan and Weber counties, introduced the bill during the legislative session.
The third grade is the only grade in which students take two reading assessments: the Acadience reading test, which is administered in kindergarten through grade three, then optionally grades four to six, and the RISE assessment, which stands for Readiness Improvement Success Empowerment, the state-administered test that students take grades three through eight each year.
Acadience focuses on fluency and accuracy, the speed at which students read the text and whether they make mistakes in reading it, while RISE focuses on comprehension, students’ understanding of the text.
“That RISE test is supposed to mirror what a kid should be able to do if they were college-ready for their grade level,” Peterson explained.
He said RISE is more rigorous than Acadience, so the district focuses on RISE scores when measuring reading proficiency.
“In our district, we choose, especially after first grade, to really focus on comprehension, … because that’s the end game with reading. Can I read the comprehended text and make sense of it, use it for different purposes?” he added.
The reason for the state’s change in definition for reading proficiency is that S.B. 241 creates a requirement to hold back third graders not reading on grade level, “except in cases of certain good cause exemptions.” In lower grades, retention must be considered but is not required.
Peterson provided examples of good-cause exemptions, including students with learning disabilities, English language learners and students who are making “great growth toward being on grade level.”
“(The bill) is asking us to really take into account each kid and what’s best for them, and to consider that retention piece as a tool that can be used,” he said.
Peterson said holding a student back can be detrimental socially, but that reading proficiency is an equally important component of a child’s development.
He added that the decision to hold back a student comes down to both the school and the students’ parents or guardians.
During a school board study session on Feb. 24, before S.B. 241 had passed, board member Brad Ehlert expressed reservations about retention.
“My son was held back in first grade. It was the worst decision we made as parents, and it affected him. He was not an IEP kid, and he became one because of that. That’s a problem,” he said. “The idea that we’re moving the majority of the group forward at the expense of some does not seem to be appropriate. If the goal is to collectively move as many people forward as we can, having a threat over somebody’s head is not how you do that.”
School Board President Kim Dickerson agreed.
Peterson’s view is that retention will not occur as long as the school district can meet the challenges set by S.B. 241.
“We need to accept responsibility to get that individual reading plan in place and show progress, period. That’s on us. And so, if we do that, then no one should be held back,” he said. “Our principals know where this is. They know the challenges ahead. It is a hefty one. We’d always talk when we do work around this, that we’re messing with kids’ lives. If we can get them on grade level, then all the options of life are opened up to them. We build their confidence.”
There’s now a flip side to that, Peterson said.
“If you can’t do that, you could destroy that kid’s life forever.”
S.B. 241 takes effect July 1. Andrea Brandley, senior education analyst with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, noted that the institute will likely release a follow-up publication in the next few months to incorporate the state’s new definition of reading proficiency.