INDIANAPOLIS – One in five Hoosier third graders continue to struggle with foundational reading skills, according to new standardized test results.
Data released Wednesday from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) shows 81.9% out of the roughly 82,000 third graders at public and private schools in Indiana passed the 2023 Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination, also called the IREAD-3 test. Tests were administered statewide this spring and summer.
The results are nearly stagnant from the last academic year when 81.6% of students’ scores indicated reading mastery. The state education department’s goal is that 95% of students in third grade can read proficiently by 2027. As of this spring, 242 schools have reached that goal, an increase from 210 schools a year ago.
Latest results indicate Indiana’s younger students also still lag behind pre-pandemic reading fluency.
Scores are 5.4% behind the results from the 2018-2019 school year, which is the last data set available prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indiana schools did not give standardized tests in 2019-2020 due to the pandemic.
Reading scores were on the decline even before the pandemic, however. The Hoosier literacy rate has seen a significant drop from Indiana’s high of 91.4% in 2012-13.
In total, about 13,000 Hoosier third-grade students, more than 18% of those in the state, will need additional support to build their reading skills to meet grade-level reading standards, according to state officials. A student who does not pass the IREAD-3 test typically must receive remediation, or risk being retained in third grade.
The IREAD-3 scores roll in as the state shifts its literacy instruction to implement the science of reading as part of an effort to improve students’ reading skills.
Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner told the Indiana Capital Chronicle on Wednesday. “We have an aggressive goal set. We are following that with very aggressive tactics to support our teachers to try to engage our parents and families in getting kids to school and making sure they can read.”
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