Move On When Reading
Move On When Reading (MOWR)
Kindergarten-3rd
MOWR PDF Letters: English and Spanish
July 23, 2019
Dear Chandler Unified School District K-3rd Grade Parents,
This letter is to provide you with information on Arizona’s Move On When Reading (MOWR) law and the importance it places on your child’s ability to read at or above grade level. Arizona Revised Statute § 15-701 states that assessment data on the third grade statewide AzMERIT reading assessment will be used to demonstrate that a student’s score falls far below within the minimal proficient level and shall not be promoted from the third grade.
There are four exemptions from ARS §15-701. In accordance with the 2017 Amendments to the law, a school district governing board or the governing body of a charter school is allowed to promote a student who earns a score that “falls far below” in the minimally proficient range on the third grade statewide reading assessment only for the four following reasons:
- A third grade student is an English Language Learner or Limited English Proficient who has received less than two years of English instruction; or
- A third grade student with disabilities has an individualized education plan (IEP), and the IEP-team, which includes the student’s parent/guardian, agrees that promotion is appropriate; or
- A third grade student is in the process of a special education referral or evaluation for placement in special education and/or students that have been diagnosed as having a significant reading impairment, including dyslexia. (Dyslexia is defined as, a brain-based learning difference that impairs a person's ability to read and spell that is independent of intelligence and that typically causes a person to read at levels lower than expected.)
- A pupil who has demonstrated or subsequently demonstrates sufficient reading skills or adequate progress towards sufficient reading skills of the 3rd grade reading standards as evidenced through a collection of reading assessments approved by the State Board (SBE) of Arizona, which includes an alternative standardized reading assessment approved by the SBE.
Amendments to S.B. 1131 can be found at the following website:
https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/GetDocumentPdf/452139
If you have questions or need additional information please contact my office at 480-812-7610.
Sincerely,
Franklin R. Narducci
Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education