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It's worth noting, however, that Florida doesn't simply make children repeat third grade. Students who are held back are to be assigned to a high-performing teacher and get 90 minutes of research-based reading instruction each day, and the state has started to give struggling readers more help as early as kindergarten. In other words, there's not some magical aspect to third grade. "That shift from learning to read to reading to learn is much more of a gradual transition than a sudden event," West says. These policies, he adds, "are meant to serve as an accountability device to ensure that all students receive sound instruction in reading in the early grades." It's hard to argue with that.