About 3,000 Indiana students are repeating third grade this school year for not meeting the state’s reading proficiency standards.

by the Indiana Department of Education showed 3.6% of the 84,000 children who took the statewide IREAD exam were retained in third grade under the first enforcement of a .

Those 3,040 retained students are more than seven times the 412 children held back in third grade two years ago.

Education Secretary Katie Jenner credited improved performance by students in the IREAD exam given last school year with the retention figure being lower than anticipated when the literacy requirement was being debated.

“The numbers that were being thrown out is that it would be 7,000 to 10,000 that this law would trigger retention,” Jenner told State Board of Education members. “But, in fact, a huge shout out to our teachers and our people, we have thousands of kids who are now readers.”

Education officials announced in August that — about 73,500 out of more than 84,000 students statewide — demonstrated proficient reading skills in 2024-25. They hailed the nearly five percentage point improvement from the previous school year as the largest year-to-year jump since the state began IREAD testing in 2013.

That left about 10,600 children who didn’t meet the standard, with almost 7,000 being given “good cause exemptions” to avoid retention. Nearly 75% of those given exemptions were special education students and about 24% are English learners with less than two years of specific literacy services.

Anna Shults, the Department of Education’s chief academic officer, said the new retention requirement was having its intended effect.

“We are now ensuring that students that are promoted on to grade four are doing so with an ability to read and show mastery of key foundational reading skills,” Shults told the State Board of Education.

The Department of Education will have an online dashboard providing breakdowns of the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination assessment, or IREAD, by school district and individual schools, including charter schools and nonpublic schools.

Officials noted about 670 children who didn’t meet the literacy standards were not enrolled in Indiana schools this year, saying they likely moved out of state or were being homeschooled.

Jenner said a determination would need to be made about those students if they returned to Indiana schools.

“That’s a question that we’ll need to sort through, because some may move back into Indiana, or if they left for homeschool may come back in,” Jenner said. “Because we’re looking at every unique student, I think we’ll try to figure out exactly where they are.”

According to 2023 data, 13,840 third-graders did not pass I-READ-3. Of those, 5,503 received an exemption and 8,337 did not. Of those without an exemption, 95% moved onto 4th grade while only 412 were retained.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.

Some members balked Tuesday as the Maryland State Board of Education reviewed a proposed literacy policy that could lead to third grade students with reading difficulties being held back, with one calling it “harmful to children.”

Board member Susan Getty, an educator of 40 years that includes 35 years teaching prekindergarten and kindergarten, said the policy is “not a viable option and harmful to children. I don’t consider it on the list of best practice in literacy.”

During the nearly 90-minute discussion, board member Joan Mele-McCarthy said more research is needed on the policy. She mentioned that the does not support retention policies, especially those strictly based on test scores.

“I don’t know if I can be in support of this. I need a lot more,” said McCarthy, executive director at The Summit School in Anne Arundel County.

But state school officials, led by State Superintendent Carey Wright, say the draft policy is based on research.

Tenette Smith, executive director of literacy programs and initiatives in the Maryland State Department of Education, said Tuesday one last year notes how states with comprehensive literary plans “saw vast improvements in both high- and low-stakes assessments, as well as increasing student outcomes, indicating that the retention policies can help raise overall academic performance.”

, which school officials said has received about 900 comments, is similar to one implemented in Mississippi, where Wright served as state schools superintendent from 2013 until she retired in 2022. She’s credited with increasing literacy scores and the graduation rate in one of the nation’s poorest states.

Boston University’s Wheelock Educational Policy Center looked at the Mississippi policy, which held third graders back if they didn’t receive a certain reading score on the state’s standardized reading test, in a

It found that between 2013 and 2019, average fourth grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress increased by 10 points, the biggest increase of any state during that period. One of the reasons for the improvement, according to the Boston University report, was collaboration between public and private prekindergarten providers and supports for teachers to build skills in the science of reading.

However, the report determined student achievement elsewhere didn’t improve.

“The fact that we do not find impacts of repeating a grade on student math scores is at least somewhat concerning and is inconsistent with findings from other localities,” according to the report.

As for Maryland’s proposed , it would implement a reading intervention program for students in kindergarten through third grade who are identified with a reading deficiency or “need for supplemental instruction in reading.”

Students in those grades would be screened about three times, including for dyslexia, throughout the school year. They could also receive before- or after-school tutoring by a person with “specialized training grounded in the science of reading,” which focuses on teaching students based on phonics, comprehension and vocabulary.

The policy will also call for professional development for staff, which  for free as part of the science of reading program.

Under the proposed plan, a parent or guardian would get written notification if their child exhibits any reading challenges during the school year. Students who are kept back in the third grade would receive more dedicated time “than the previous school year in scientifically research-based reading instruction and intervention,” daily small group instruction and frequent monitoring of the student’s reading skills throughout the school year.

During a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Wright stressed this isn’t strictly a third-grade policy.

“This is a policy that starts in pre-K through third grade, so that parent involvement piece has to start in pre-K,” she said.

Christopher Wooleyhand, executive director of the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals, said he supports state officials in pushing to achieve better literacy for students, but that “mandatory policies of any kind create unnecessary burden on LEAs [local education agencies] and communities.”

“This draft policy places significant challenges on overworked classroom teachers and school leaders whose plates are already full from state and local mandates,” Wooleyhand said.

The board said it will hold a special comment period on just the literacy policy during next month’s regular board meeting. The goal is to vote on the policy by September, but when it would actually go into effect remains unknown.

New leadership

Prior to the literacy conversation, the board unanimously chose new leadership.

Joshua Michael was elected to replace outgoing Board President Clarence Crawford, who served four years in that position. The board also passed a resolution granting Crawford the title “president emeritus” for his work leading the board through the COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan and the transition of two superintendents. Crawford has two more years on his term.

Monica Goldson, former public schools chief for Prince George’s County, will chosend as the new board vice president.

Michael and Goldson were appointed last year by Gov. Wes Moore (D).

The board’s student member, Abhiram Gaddam of Wicomico County, began his one-year term last month.

Getty’s term expired June 30, but a department spokesperson wrote in an email that she will remain on the board until a successor is appointed.

The board also recognized , president of the Maryland State Education Association since August 2018, who was attending her last meeting Tuesday. Bost is scheduled to retire at the end of the month.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on and .