I teach in Indiana. One of the many, many standardized tests that students here have to take is called IREAD3. In theory, you pass this test or repeat the third grade. More on the foolishness of retention in third grade is coming later. In the county where I teach, and possibly throughout the state, the Department of Corrections is very interested in the number of students who fail this test every year. They use it to predict how many prison beds they will need in ten years. So, if you are even just slightly below the standard of reading skill in third grade for any reason, they start making a prison bed for you. The way I see it, my job is to make sure those beds are never occupied. That’s my passion. That’s why I get up at the ungodly hour I do every day, that’s why I put up with all the judgement from people who don’t know what I do, and that’s why I love working with the “bad kids.” That’s why “Empty Beds.”
Empty Beds 