Coming soon to a school near you: A higher bar for third-grade reading

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers appropriated record levels of funding to public education during the just-concluded general session of the Utah Legislature.They also raised the bar on early reading standards, which portends to be a heavy lift for many schools that do not currently meet the state code standard — that 50 percent of Utah elementary schoolers read at or above grade level by the end of the third grade.The Utah Legislature's passage of SB194 raised that standard to 60 percent."