Life can throw a lot at a third-grade student. In many elementary schools, third grade marks the start of letter grades, standardized testing, and state-mandated reading-proficiency requirements. In Title I schools, poverty and other issues at home often underlie and exacerbate young students’ academic struggles. Carly Schwartz teaches math and science to third-grade students at Davenport A+ Elementary in Lenoir, North Carolina. Schwartz says that some 70 percent of Davenport students come from low-income families and a significant amount of them come into her classroom below grade level. In fact, 27 percent of Schwartz’s incoming students were as much as two years below grade level at the start of the 2017–18 school year.
