Third Grade Redux: Does Holding Struggling Readers Back Build Literacy? (VIDEO)

Reading by the third grade is considered critical to a child's educational development. As a result, more states are requiring students to be held back in third grade if they do not meet standard reading levels. In fact, the number of states requiring third graders to repeat a grade if they can't read increased to 13 in the last year. But is holding students back the solution, or does it present risks? And what are the social consequences?

Mary Kay Hoal, a mother of five, chose to keep two of her children back and does not regret this decision.

"They're more confident," she said on HuffPost Live Monday. "They have better learning skills. They're very excited by how well they do in school."

Hoal joined HuffPost Live host Janet Varney to discuss holding struggling readers back a grade with Martin West, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Amy Elias, educational consultant and mother of three, Anjali Deshpande, a doctoral student at NYU.

Watch the full segment at HuffPost Live.