Indiana's 3rd grade literacy rates increase for third consecutive year
Contributed By: The 411 News
2024 IREAD proficiency levels see largest-ever single-year increase
More of Indiana’s third graders are reading at grade level in 2024, results from the state’s IREAD test show.
Indiana’s Secretary of Education, Dr. Katie Jenner said the 2024 test results, released today, saw an improvement of 0.6 percentage points in reading skills over results for the 2022-2023 school year. “This is the highest year over year increase since the 2013 launch of IREAD.”
Statewide, results reveal that more than 67,000 Indiana third grade students – or 82.5% – demonstrated proficient reading skills on the assessment. For 2022-2023, the pass rate was 81.9%.
The increase is significant for Indiana. Except for the 2014-2015 school year, Indiana saw a continuous yearly decline in 3rd-grade reading proficiency from 2013 through 2021. When they began to rise from the 8-year low in 2021, the increases were 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent.
IREAD Results: Longitudinal Proficiency Rate 2013-2024
Dr. Jenner said three straight years of increased reading proficiency proves Indiana Dept. of Education tactics are working.
Schools have opted in to give the IREAD test to their second graders. It can determine if students will master reading skills by the end of grade three or if they will need extra help.
Starting with the current year, all second grade students will participate in IREAD.
“With the help of this early indicator, educators were able to identify students needing interventions, allowing 56% of second graders who were identified as at-risk in 2023 to pass IREAD in 2024,” Dr. Jenner said.
The Indiana Literacy Cadre, another IDOE tactic, provides early elementary teachers with instructional coaching and support aligned with the science of reading. Schools that opted in to receive this support had a 2.5 percentage point increase in students passing IREAD, compared to a 0.2 percentage point increase for schools that did not opt in to the Literacy Cadre.
Results below show how third grade students in Gary’s school districts fared on 2024 IREAD.
| IREAD Results for Gary school districts | Number | Number | Percentage |
|---|
| | Passed | Tested | |
|---|
| 21st Century Charter Sch of Gary | 53 | 75 | 70.7% |
| Ambassador Christian Academy | 15 | 21 | 71.4% |
| Aspire Charter Academy | 38 | 62 | 76.7% |
| Charter School of the Dunes | 42 | 79 | 53.2% |
| Gary Comm School Corporation | 186 | 378 | 49.2% |
| Gary Lighthouse Charter School | 58 | 77 | 75.3% |
| Steel City Academy | 14 | 20 | 70.0% |
| Thea Bowman Lead Acad | 40 | 61 | 65.6% |
In Gary, 446 passed out of 773 tested in 2024
IREAD results for Gary students in 2023 show that 442 passed out of the 798 tested.
2024 IREAD results for corporations and schools can be accessed at https://www.in.gov/doe/it/data-center-and-reports
Story Posted:08/14/2024
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