A proposed bill in the Indiana Statehouse to move IREAD-3 testing from third grade to second grade is getting a mixed reaction from Morgan County school leaders.
IREAD-3 is an exam that tests third-graders’ reading abilities. Students must pass it before moving on to grade four. According to the Indiana Department of Education website, it is a summative assessment that was developed in accordance with House Enrolled Act 1367, which “requires the evaluation of reading skills for students who are in grade three beginning in the Spring of 2012 to ensure that all students can read proficiently before moving on to grade four.”
Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, co-authored Senate Bill 169 with Sen. Peter Miller, R-Avon, and Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen.
The goal of the bill, according to the authors, is to identify reading struggles earlier so schools can provide additional remediation time and reduce the chances that students would have to take third grade over again because they failed the test.
The bill means students who fail the test in second grade would receive remediation and retake the test in third grade. Students who failed again would receive additional summer remediation and take a third test. Failure would then require retention.
Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation superintendent David Marcotte said he likes the change to second grade.
“Moving the I-READ 3 exam to grade two has a couple of benefits,” Marcotte said. “First, current third-graders take two state exams, I-READ 3 and the ISTEP. Moving I-READ to second grade relieves some testing stress on third-graders.”
He also said he likes that the test would happen earlier, giving teaches more time for instruction.
“This will provide a piece of standardized student performance data at an earlier age so our teachers can tailor instruction accordingly,” he said.
Monroe-Gregg Superintendent Bill Roberson said he doesn’t understand the move to second grade. He said he thought third grade was the logical grade to have it, and that second is too early.
“I think the kids are used to it and like it there,” Roberson said. “Fourth grade is when you start to read to learn, so it makes more sense in third grade. However, we’ll do whatever they tell us. That’s one problem, everything keeps changing, nothing can stay the same.”
Metropolitan School District of Martinsville Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Jerry Sanders said he doesn’t like that the test has such high stakes, at any level, whether third or second grade.
“I think it puts too much pressure on the boys and girls,” Sanders said. “I like the data that comes from it.”
Sanders said second-graders are already tested on reading using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, or DIBELS. That test is administered every year through sixth grade. He said that test provides reading data already and tells teachers of the specific skills needed to learn to read.
Sanders said if the law needs teeth, students who fail the test should go to summer school and get greater interventions, but they shouldn’t be forced to repeat a grade if they fail.
“That’s too much for them,” he said.