INDIANA — Indiana third graders’ reading proficiency improved at a record-breaking rate in 2025, putting students’ scores on par with pre-pandemic levels.
Statewide, 87.3% of third graders scored proficient on the state test, the IREAD, up nearly 5 percentage points from the 82.5% proficiency rate in 2024. The jump represents the largest single-year increase since the assessment began in 2013, according to state data presented Wednesday. And it breaks the improvement record set last year, when scores increased less than one percentage point from 2023 to 2024.
The increase comes after concerted efforts in elementary schools to help students pass the IREAD and thereby avoid mandatory retention in third grade under a law that went into effect for the 2025-26 school year. In total, 73,500 out of 84,163 third graders scored proficient on the IREAD.
Students across all ethnic and socioeconomic student groups improved in 2025. Black students’ proficiency rate improved by 7.5 percentage points this year, and their proficiency rate has risen four years in a row. Scores for English learners improved seven percentage points from last year, although their scores have declined since 2021.