Iowa students who are not reading at grade level by the spring of third grade will be required to repeat that grade beginning in 2017.
However, students may enroll in summer reading courses to progress to fourth grade.
According to last year's test results, 1 in 4 Iowa third graders are reading below grade level.
At the Pleasant Valley School District, educators have implemented strategies to boost their students' reading skills. The "What I Need" or "WIN" program was enacted to give students more time to practice reading.
"That's an extra 30 minutes several times a week where we divide students up and give them an extra opportunity, usually in small groups to work onthose early literacy skills," said Chris Welch, the principal of Hopewell Elementary.
The WIN program has worked at Pleasant Valley, Welch said. At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, 16 kindergartners had below average reading skills. With extra time devoted to those students, all 16 students' reading skills increased and were at grade level.
One of the teachers spearheading the program is Sarah Vice, a third-grade teacher who floats to different classrooms to help teachers during reading lessons.
Vice said her presence provides teachers the opportunity to divide their students into smaller groups and students can the proper attention.
As a third-grade teacher, Vice said it is paramount that third grade students can read at grade level because "that's when students stop learning to read, and began reading to learn."
If more students are forced to repeat their grade, Vice said it would have a negative impact on that student.
"All research will show you that retention is not the best solution for anyone that's lacking sentence skills," Vice said.
Vice is optimistic the programs at Pleasant Valley will continue to improve the students' reading skills in hopes that their students will be ready when the mandate is implemented in 2017.