Every third grader in 20 northeast Indiana schools – including 17 in Allen County – passed the Indiana's literacy test in a year that saw an unprecedented increase statewide, according to results released today.

Nearly 30 other area schools achieved a 95% pass rate – a benchmark Indiana wants to achieve statewide by 2027.

About 87% of Hoosier third graders passed the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination assessment, or IREAD, representing a nearly 5 percentage point increase from last year.

This is the largest year-over-year increase since IREAD began in 2013, the Indiana Department of Education said in a news release. The previous record was set last year with an increase of less than 1 percentage point.

Katie Jenner, the state's education secretary, called the progress extraor

See Full Page