A look at local IREAD scores and the steps towards improving them

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- The State of Indiana released IREAD scores from this spring, the reading comprehension standardized tests Hoosier third graders have to take to make sure they're able to read.

The state shows an overall increase in scores, which is good news, considering new legislation that's in effect this school year could hold more students back from moving on to fourth grade if they don't pass.

ABC57's Annie Kate caught up with local districts to see how they scored on the IREAD exams.

Concord Community Schools showed a significant increase, according to its Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Kent Myers.

"The last few years, we have been around 70 percent, and so, we're very excited to see 77.8 percent this year," Myers said. "Our teachers have worked really hard, and we've put a lot of things in place over the last couple years."

Myers said they significantly changed their curriculum a couple years ago, implementing interventions for struggling students and adding instruction coaches to their roster.

And this comes before new legislation cracks down on students unable to read, requiring schools to administer the test to second graders, intervene for those that do not pass, and hold them back from moving on to fourth grade if they can't pass the IREAD in third grade.

That's why so many local districts already tested their second graders this year, like the South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC).

"We're trying to reduce any of our kids being held back. So we are being very intentional. We have additional interventions happening, working with community partners," said JeNeva Adams, Ph. D., SBCSC chief academic officer. "For the students that did not pass IREAD in second grade, we're utilizing that data information from IREAD that they took, to identify specifically what they need to do in order to get them to be proficient and pass IREAD."

South Bend third graders showed a 62.1 percent pass rate.

"According to our data from previous years, we are making increases, we just haven't hit our pre-pandemic rate yet," Adams said.

In fact, Adams said the pass rate would have reflected closer to 70 percent, until the South Bend Empowerment Zone schools were factored into the calculation now that the zone is merged back into the district. Still, their pre-pandemic rates were at the 70 mark, so Adams says she's looking for the district to hit 70 percent or higher this upcoming school year.

School City of Mishawaka showed its best increase yet with a pass rate of 78.7 percent, according to Caity Stockstell, Ed.D., director of teaching and learning.

"It's probably our largest increase in about a decade, even since the inception or the beginning of IREAD," Stockstell said. "We are super impressed with this growth. We know we have more room to improve and to grow, but we have now shrunk the gap between our performance and the state's performance. Last year, 2023, we were about 8% away from the state average, now we're only 3% away from the state average."

Looking at the districts and their pass rates, many still show at least one in five third graders unable to read, so ABC57 asked what interventions may look like, and many school leaders say it starts at home.

"Family communication is always first and foremost," Stockstell said. "Next, it's really looking at what does the student need, and how can we provide that support? It could be small group instruction. It could be additional time reading. It could be specific work on a skill."

"We're getting there, and we're going to get them at grade level," Adams said. "I know our literacy rates are going up, and that is our focus, and we're going to maintain that focus."