Most third graders pass mandated IREAD-3 test to advance to fourth grade

Students must achieve passing scores on IREAD-3 (Indiana Reading Evaluation And Determination) to earn promotion to the fourth grade, and about 86.1 percent of Indiana’s third graders did, according to data released Friday by the Indiana Department of Education.

The pass rate on the reading exam for students in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. was 81.8 percent, just over a 1 percent increase from last year’s pass rate. Of the 1,834 EVSC third-graders who took the exam, 1,500 passed.

“With our large numbers, we feel that is a nice improvement,” said Velinda Stubbs, EVSC director of language arts and literacy support. “So we’re really optimistic about continuing to improve. After summer retests and waivers (last year), we had 92 percent passing or receiving a waiver. We anticipate that number to increase this year as well.”

Warrick County School Corp. had a pass rate of 95.3 percent on this year’s IREAD-3.

Department of Education spokesman Dan Altman said the high stakes test is obviously something important to the students, parents, school corporations and communities.

Reading and comprehension are the foundations for all academic learning, so Indiana lawmakers asked the Department of Education to create a third-grade reading exam as part of an effort to eliminate social promotion, according to the IDOE website.

Third graders are reading to learn and no longer learning to read, said Amanda Michel, third grade teacher at Vogel Elementary. She said everyone at Vogel was pleased with the school’s 92.1 percent pass rate. Teachers there encourage students to read 20 minutes a day, and third grade teachers provided a binder of exercises to practice with at home, she said.

“We all feel like it was majorly a commitment from home and school,” Michel said. “We definitely needed the parent support to feel confident that the students had what they needed ... I feel like that (the practice binder) helped a lot and gave the parent something they could physically do other than just read with their student at home.”

Among other area public school districts, pass rates were 80.5 percent in the Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon; 91.6 percent in the Metropolitan School District of North Posey; 89 percent in the North Gibson School Corp.; 81.3 percent in the South Gibson School Corp.; and 91.5 percent in the East Gibson School Corp. Joshua Academy, an Evansville charter elementary school, had a pass rate of 86.1 percent, a 13.4 percent increase compared to last year’s 72.7 percent.

The Catholic Diocese of Evansville’s Westside Catholic School was among Indiana nonpublic schools to achieve a pass rate of 100 percent. Others in the region with 100 percent pass rates on IREAD-3 include Evansville Day School, Holy Family School, Holy Cross School, Sts. Peter & Paul School, Flaget Elementary School, St. Philip School, Saint Wendel School, Christ The King School, Saint Joseph School, Resurrection School, all in the Evansville Diocese; Elberfeld Elementary School and Tennyson Elementary School, from Warrick County; and South Gibson Southern’s Haubstadt Community School.

Two-thirds of IREAD-3 covers reading comprehension, students read fiction and nonfiction passages, then must demonstrate an understanding of them. As well as analysis of literary text questions that may include story plot, character traits and development, and identifying a theme. The other third tests vocabulary skills and word recognition.

Not passing the assessment has serious consequences, according to Stubbs. State law requires those who did not pass the test to repeat third grade. However, those pupils that did not pass have a second opportunity this summer; and waivers may be offered through September in certain cases for students in special education, those who still are learning English, or for students with an individualized education plan or individual learning plan.

EVSC students may take up to 60 hours of free, individualized tutoring this summer, work with a licensed teacher in small groups on reading skills and use technology and data to work toward reading goals. Currently, Stubbs said about 200 students are registered to attend summer tutoring programs that offer free bus transportation. Most sites will offer help from 9 a.m. to noon on June 3-28. The tutoring program is designed to help prepare children to retake the test the final week of summer school.

Last year, Stubbs said EVSC was granted 121 waivers, which represented 7 percent of the total population tested.