Alabama educators Tuesday voiced concerns about a new fast-approaching hurdle, a pass-or-fail reading test that could soon force schools to hold back thousands of third-graders around the state.

“Why are we rushing?” Decatur Superintendent Dr. Michael Douglas asked during Tuesday’s all-day meeting in Montgomery. “The whole timeline on this bill is (because lawmakers) don’t trust us.”

If teachers aren’t properly trained, he said, “It’s just going to become this big train wreck.”

A new Alabama law requires third-graders read on grade level starting with the 2021-22 school year. If they don't, they'll be held back, a result likely to disproportionately affect students with disabilities and English language learners.

The percentage of third-grade students not reaching proficiency on the 2017-18 statewide test, broken down by federally-defined groups.

Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, co-sponsored the law and attended today's meeting of a statewide task force charged with implementing the law. He said pushing back the 2021-22 deadline isn’t an option.

“Retreating, to me, is not an option,” Baker said. Rather than retreating, he said, “Moving forward to get educators to aggressively engaged in advancing the science of reading---we’ve got to stay on track.”

The Alabama Literacy Act, passed last spring and effective Sept. 1, was designed to improve academic achievement across the state by ensuring early learners get a solid foundation in reading.

This year’s first-graders are the ones that have the most on the line, though, as they’re the first group that faces being held back if they’re not reading on grade level by the end of their third grade year.

Alabama Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said he has heard concerns about the law, too. “It’s an ambitious timeline,” Mackey said, “and I think that’s what has people nervous.”

The law requires schools and districts to provide extra support to students not reading on grade level, beginning in kindergarten. Reading interventions and summer camps---neither of which come with state funding yet---are also required.

“I don’t want this to become Common Core 2.0,” Douglas added, referring to the lack of training Alabama teachers received on new math and English standards after the state adopted Common Core in 2010.

“We’re in some mad race, and we’re going get it done the wrong way,” said Douglas.

While the law requires third-graders not reading on grade level to be held back, exceptions can be granted for some children, including English language learners and students with disabilities who have received intense supports for two years and have already been held back once.

Task force member and dyslexia specialist Sonya Yates said she is concerned that educators are already setting a negative tone about the law by referring to it as an “unfunded mandate” from state lawmakers.

Mackey told AL.com, while the law doesn’t wholly represent an “unfunded mandate” from state legislators, there are some requirements that haven’t yet been funded, like the summer learning piece.

Mackey told the group he is asking the Legislature for an additional $26 million to fund requirements of the new law. “We believe those things will be funded,” Mackey said.

A big piece of getting students reading on grade level hinges on getting teachers properly trained. Around 3,000 teachers statewide are receiving yearlong training, paid for with state education funding, but there are more than 20,000 teachers in those four grade levels. At $2,500 per teacher, it would cost around $50 million for all teachers to be trained.

State lawmakers didn’t include any funding for teacher training in the current year’s budget. And Mackey said the department did not win a much-hoped-for $30 million federal grant that would have really helped pay for requirements of the new state law.

“We need to pump the brakes,” Douglas said. “Get everybody trained, get everybody on the same page and then let’s roll out a really good product and start holding people accountable.”

Dr. Barbara Foorman, a reading expert and director of the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast at Florida State University, walked task force members through a free online training that teachers can access now, while they’re waiting to start the training program, called LETRS, chosen by state education officials.

The task force also looked at finding tests that teachers can use to diagnose reading problems and measure reading levels in kindergarten through third grade. The state recently asked for proposals from vendors for those tests, which should be chosen by January 2020, according to state officials.

One question about testing has been answered. State officials announced that the third-grade reading portion of the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, or ACAP, piloted last spring will determine whether a student is promoted to the fourth-grade or held back.

But the actual score that third-graders have to attain to be considered on grade-level has not yet been determined, though, and won’t be determined until after the 2020 test results have been finalized, Mackey said.

Decatur Superintendent Douglas said he’s concerned that the bar for grade-level will be set low because of the “stupid timeline.”

“Because we’ve started the clock,” he said, “the only way to make it where 30% of your third-graders aren’t retained is to set the bar low.”

Foorman said other states with similar laws set their initial test score cutoffs at a level where too many students didn’t end up being retained. Score cutoffs were raised as teachers were better trained and student scores improved, she said.

Mississippi is one of the states that lawmakers point to as an example of where the law is working to improve literacy rates. After setting a low bar during the first few years of implementation, Mississippi raised that bar this spring.

More than 7,500 third-graders---or one in four---in Mississippi failed to reach proficiency on the test last spring. That number dropped to under 5,000 after a second try, according to news reports.

In Alabama, 52% of 57,000 third-graders did not reach proficiency in reading during the 2017-18 school year. But of those students, just 660 were held back last year. That's according to the Alabama State Department of Education.

Task force member and Jacksonville State University Education Dean Dr. Tommy Turner said it will likely take 10 to 12 years to see all the outcomes related to improving students’ ability to read, which include things beyond test scores.

“It takes a little while to put water in the ocean to raise the whole ship,” Turner said. “That’s not going to be done overnight.”

The group meets again Dec. 11.