Red-faced state educrats have killed a wildly unpopular plan to stick third graders with a four-hour battery of reading tests after critics ripped it in the Daily News.

Officials had aimed to nearly double the length of reading exams that third through eighth graders take each spring, according to an email sent to every principal in the state on Monday.

Third graders would have tackled king-size reading exams lasting 245 minutes over two consecutive days in April 2012. Other grades would’ve gotten similar tests.

But after critics tore into the proposal in Tuesday’s News, state officials did an about face, instructing principals in a new memo to ignore the plan.

Education Department spokesman Dennis Tompkins said that officials are now considering input from teachers and parents before they roll out a new testing schedule.