The Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD-3) takes place towards the end of third grade to determine students’ reading proficiency. IDOE has released data about proficiency rates for third graders who took the assessment during the spring or summer of 2021. Only 81.2% of those third graders earned a proficient score on the exam leaving 18.2% of students lacking reading proficiency.
The disaggregated data shows that special education students, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students, and Black students performed the worst on the exam. Only 52.4% of special education students, 61.6% of native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students, and 62% of Black students earned passing scores. 77.2% of English language learners passed the exam. Students who are learning English are performing better than some native English speakers.
Although COVID-19 presented barriers to students’ performance, these students need to know how to read. Being able to read and comprehend are skills students will need throughout life. Any parents who have a child that would now be in fourth grade, unless the child was retained in third, who did not pass this exam should follow up with the school and be clear about what supports are being put in place to ensure the child learns to properly read and comprehend.
Additionally, the parents need to ask what they should do at home to support the child. In fourth grade and up, the focus is on reading to learn not learning to read. It is crucial that parents support their child at home as the time during the school day may not be enough.
To view the IREAD-3 data, scroll down to the IREAD-3 assessment results box on the IDOE Data Center and Results page. In this box, parents can view data by school corporations and by school.