Indiana Sees Largest Reading Gains in a Decade: 6,000 More Third Graders Now Proficient

Indiana’s reading overhaul is showing some of the strongest gains in the country, according to new state data released for the 2024–2025 school year. Indiana reports that 87.3% of third graders are now proficient in foundational reading skills on the state’s IREAD assessment—a jump of nearly five percentage points in a single year and the largest year-over-year increase since the exam began in 2013. In raw numbers, that translates to roughly 6,000 additional third-grade readers compared with last year—enough to fill about 298 classrooms at 20 students each. State officials say the surge returns Indiana to pre-pandemic proficiency levels and marks the fourth consecutive year of improvement.

The momentum is broad-based. For the first time, every student subgroup posted gains. Literacy rates for Black students have risen 14.1 percentage points since 2021, including a 7.5-point increase this year alone. Hispanic students climbed 7.5 points year over year after a dip in 2024. Students receiving special education services have now improved four straight years, up 7.5 points since last year and 12.2 points since 2021. English learners—an area the state prioritized for additional supports beginning in 2022—rose 7.2 points after several flat years. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students (those receiving free or reduced-price lunch) gained 6.6 points this year and are up 10 points since 2021.

The results come as Indiana has reshaped early literacy around the Science of Reading and layered in earlier screening, more coaching for K–3 teachers, and expanded summer help. The legislature and education department, in partnership with Lilly Endowment Inc., have committed more than $170 million to literacy since 2022, including $111 million announced that August and an additional $60 million appropriated in 2023. The state’s headline goal is ambitious: a 95% IREAD passage rate by 2027.

Two tactics appear to be paying particularly quick dividends. First, Indiana moved IREAD down a grade so all second graders now take the assessment, giving families and schools an earlier indicator and more time to intervene. In 2025, 81,792 second graders participated; 48% already passed and another 20% were deemed on track to pass by the end of third grade. Early warning signals are proving actionable: more than 65% of students flagged “At Risk” last year passed this year, and over 96% of students previously identified as “On Track” went on to pass.

Second, the state’s Literacy Cadre—a growing network that provides embedded, Science of Reading-aligned coaching to early elementary teachers—now reaches 564 schools across four cohorts. Schools in the Cadre posted nearly double the year-over-year growth of non-Cadre schools, according to the state’s analysis. Indiana has complemented those efforts with universal K–2 screeners, advisory lists for high-quality curricular materials, Lexile reporting embedded in state assessments, “Summer Learning Labs” that offer free or low-cost reading and math support, an Early Literacy Endorsement for teacher training, and wider access to age-appropriate books through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The state’s policy architecture is also designed to keep students from falling through the cracks. Third graders who do not pass IREAD in the spring have two retest opportunities over the summer and continued access to summer school taught by Science of Reading-trained instructors. Any student who does not pass in third grade— including those granted a Good Cause Exemption—continues to retest each spring and summer until they pass or are promoted to seventh grade, ensuring ongoing intervention and progress monitoring.

Indiana leaders argue the improvement is not just statistical but cultural. More than one-third of the state’s elementary schools have now reached the 95% reading-proficiency benchmark, and 456 schools posted IREAD passage rates at or above that threshold this year—179 more than last year. Local success stories dot the map: Central Catholic School recorded a 51.7-point jump; Glenwood Leadership Academy in Evansville rose 43.9 points; the Success Academy at the Boys & Girls Club climbed 36.7 points; and several Elkhart schools—Eastwood and Woodland elementaries among them—registered gains above 20 points.

The improvements arrive alongside encouraging signals on a separate barometer that national audiences know well: NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card. In 2024, Indiana ranked sixth in the nation in both fourth- and eighth-grade reading—its highest-ever position in fourth-grade reading—underscoring that gains aren’t confined to a single state test but are showing up on an external yardstick as well.

State Sen. Daryl Schmitt of Jasper, a member of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development, frames the results as a testament to classroom execution and sustained focus. He credits the work of Indiana’s teachers and says lawmakers will continue collaborating with educators and parents to keep the trajectory pointed up. The broader message, he adds, is straightforward: when students learn to read on time, they set themselves up for long-term success in school and in life.

For policymakers and district leaders outside Indiana, the takeaways are increasingly clear. Targeted, early identification coupled with evidence-based instruction, real-time coaching, summer supports, and transparent, grade-level goals can move the needle even after years of pandemic-era disruption. Indiana still has ground to cover to reach its 95% target by 2027, but its latest numbers—especially the across-the-board gains for historically underserved students—offer a detailed case study in how a state can organize around reading and see results within a few cycles.