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              each other is a building block that leads to comprehension.
5. Comprehension is the ability to understand what one
has read. This includes understanding the plot of a story
or the information in an article. It also includes things like
recognizing the main idea of an article or being able to
compare and contrast different characters in a story.
■ EXEMPTIONS FROM THIRD-GRADE RETENTION
Some third graders who score Unsatisfactory on the OCCT
reading can be exempted from the retention requirement
and be promoted to fourth grade. This is called a good-cause
exemption. Good-cause exemptions are only given to the
following students:
1. English Language Learners who have had less than two
years of instruction in English.
2. Students with disabilities whose IEP indicates the student
is to be assessed with the OAAP.
3. Students who demonstrate an acceptable level of perfor-mance
(minimum of 45 percent) on an alternative standard-ized
reading test approved by the State Board of Education
(SAT 10, Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Terranova).
4. Students who demonstrate through a teacher-developed
portfolio that they can read on grade level.*
5. Students with disabilities who take the OCCT and have an
individualized educational plan (IEP) who still demonstrate
a deficiency in reading and was previously retained or was
in a transitional grade during kindergarten, first, second,
or third grade.
6. Students who have received intensive remediation in
reading for two or more years but still demonstrate a
deficiency in reading and who have already been retained
in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, or third grade for
a total of two years.
If you believe your child may be eligible for a good-cause
exemption, talk to your child’s teacher. For a good-cause exemp-tion
to be approved, the following steps must take place:
1. The student’s teacher must submit documentation to the
principal.
2. The principal must review the documentation and decide
whether or not the student should be promoted. If the
principal determines that the student should be promoted,
the principal must make the recommendation to the school
district superintendent.
3. The school district superintendent must accept or reject the
principal’s recommendation that the student be promoted.
*The teacher selects the contents of the portfolio. The documents in the
portfolio must show that the student has mastered the Oklahoma C3
Standard benchmarks that are assessed by the Grade 3 OCCT Reading.
Talk to your child’s teacher to find out more about portfolios.
This publication, printed by the State Department of Education Printing Services,
is issued by the Oklahoma State Department of Education as authorized by
70 O.S. § 3-104. Six hundred copies have been prepared using 21st Community
Learning Centers federal funds at a cost of 9 cents per copy. Copies have been
deposited with the Publications Clearinghouse of the Oklahoma Department of
Libraries. July 2013.
■ MAKING PROGRESS
Midyear Promotion
If the child can demonstrate the required reading level
before the start of the next school year, he/she may be
promoted to fourth grade. If the child achieves the required
reading level during the next school year, the child may be
promoted to fourth grade prior to November 1. To be pro-moted
to fourth grade midyear, the child must demonstrate
mastery of third-grade reading skills and beginning fourth-grade
reading skills. This will ensure the student has made
enough progress to be successful in fourth grade. The
student may be given a standardized test, or the teacher
may put together a portfolio of the student’s work to
demonstrate proficiency.
Intensive Acceleration Class
If a student has already been retained once in third grade
and then scores an Unsatisfactory again, the school must
provide an intensive acceleration class that focuses on
increasing the child’s reading level at least two grade levels
in one school year.
The intensive acceleration class must:
• Have a reduced teacher-student ratio
• Have a high-performing teacher
• Provide uninterrupted reading instruction
for most of the school day
• Give students the opportunity to master the fourth-grade
Oklahoma C3 Standards in other core subject areas
• Provide intensive language and vocabulary instruction
using a scientifically research-based program, including
the use of a speech-language therapist
• Monitor student progress weekly
The district must also offer these students the option of being
served in a transitional instructional setting designed to help
them meet the fourth-grade Oklahoma C3 Standards, while
continuing the remediation of the reading deficiency.
■ FIVE COMPONENTS OF READING
Teachers in the early grades work on improving students’
skills in these five components of reading:
1. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate
the sounds of spoken language. This includes noticing
rhyme and recognizing the separate, small sounds in words
(phonemes).
2. Phonics is the understanding of the relationships between
the written letters of the alphabet and the sounds of
spoken language. This knowledge allows a reader to “decode”
words by translating the letters into speech sounds.
3. Fluency is the ability to read quickly, accurately, and with
proper expression.
4. Vocabulary includes all the words the reader can understand
and use. The more words a child knows, the better he or she
will understand what is read. Knowing how words relate to
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