Indiana literacy rates improve for fifth straight year

by Mackenzi Klemann, Indiana Capital Chronicle
August 11, 2026

Indiana’s early literacy rates improved for the fifth consecutive year, with nearly 89% of Hoosier third graders demonstrating proficiency in foundational reading skills on the state’s IREAD assessment.

The Indiana Department of Education released statewide IREAD, ILEARN and SAT results for the 2025-26 school year Tuesday at the State Board of Education’s August meeting.

The results show continued improvement in early literacy and a new baseline for the state’s redesigned ILEARN assessment.

Officials credit the success to science of reading instructional coaching targeted at low-performing schools and earlier assessments, which allows schools to identify struggling readers before they enter third grade.

Student literacy rates for every student population have now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with the greatest year-over-year gains recorded for Black and Hispanic students.

More than 500 schools reached Indiana’s 95% reading proficiency goal in 2026 as well.

IREAD is administered in second and third grade, giving students five opportunities to demonstrate proficiency before leaving third grade.

The assessment measures foundational reading skills like phonics, vocabulary, fluency and basic comprehension.

Students who pass are not required to retest, while those who are rated at risk are offered targeted supports to get them on track. If they don’t pass, state law requires they remain in third grade.

Literacy Cadre boosts pass rates

All special needs students at Parkside Elementary School in Columbus passed IREAD last school year.

The school assesses the highest number of special needs students and still passes 100%, Principal Chris Smith told the State Board of Education.

“The achievement is a powerful reflection of our belief that every student can succeed when provided with high-quality instruction, intentional support and high expectations,” he said.

Parkside is one of 770 Indiana schools to participate in the Department of Education’s literacy cadre program — an instructional coaching program available to elementary teachers at schools with low IREAD passage rates.

IREAD growth is nearly four times greater at schools using the cadre than those that do not participate, Chief Academic Officer Anna Shults said.

Third grade passage rates at St. Anthony Catholic School, a predominantly Hispanic school in downtown Indianapolis, surged from 54% to 100% in a single year after the school joined the literacy cadre.

Many students at the school are English learners, but Principal Madalyn Schepers said, “we never wanted language to become a reason to lower our expectations.”

The latest cohort of third graders experienced three years of intensive literacy instruction, with an emphasis on what each student needed to reach grade-level benchmarks, she said.

“Students were not simply placed into a low (reading) group and left there for the year,” Schepers said. “Their progress was monitored, and their groups were fluid. The instruction changed as their needs changed. Our teachers knew their students as readers. They knew who needed additional work and dynamic awareness. They knew who needed decoding support. They knew who needed fluency practice, and they knew when a student was ready to move on.”

Behind the statistic, Schepers said, are children who see a new version of themselves. “A child who struggled to read in a second language is now a child who knows they can do hard things.”

State sets new ILEARN baseline

Results from the newly redesigned ILEARN assessment — a more rigorous, through-year assessment measuring academic mastery of math and English language arts — set a new overall baseline of 42% proficiency in ELA and 42.7% proficiency in math.

The test is administered in grades 3 through 8, designed to align with the National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment to measure whether students are on track for college.

This is the first year the redesigned assessment was administered to students.

The Department of Education streamlined the computer-adaptive test to align with core academic standards, in accordance with state law.

The test is now a through-year assessment, with three checkpoints and a shortened summative assessment administered each spring, allowing parents and educators to monitor student progress throughout the year.

“We have now a benchmark,” said Paul Ketcham, assistant secretary of education. “We have reliability in our data that we’re receiving today. We now go to work so that we can move our kids in the right direction.”

Scores are divided into four categories: below, approaching, at or above proficiency.

Ketcham said nearly 80% of students who took the assessment last school year were rated at, above or approaching proficiency.

And with a through-year assessment, Ketcham said educators are now equipped with timely data to get those students on track.

“Math is probably our next big lift,” he said.

Education leaders caution not to compare ILEARN results to previous years or other states, as the test is unique to Indiana.

“The only reason we’ve had five consecutive years of movement in IREAD is because of the army of people we’ve built statewide at the community level who are the change agents who are making it happen — educators, parents and families working together,” Education Secretary Katie Jenner said. “So, we believe as this new (ILEARN) baseline is set, we need the same level of army and focus on ELA and math.”

Other results released Tuesday show 52% of Hoosier juniors met college-ready benchmarks for reading and writing on the SAT, while 26% met mathematics benchmarks.