Just two years ago, Indiana faced a sobering reality: nearly 1 in 5 third-graders could not read proficiently, and our state was grappling with what many rightfully called a literacy crisis. That moment demanded more than acknowledgment — it demanded action.

And Indiana acted.

This week, we received news that reflects just how far we’ve come: our 2025 IREAD assessment results show a nearly 5 percentage point increase in third grade reading proficiency in just one year — the largest gain in Indiana’s recorded history. This equates to 73,500 third-grade students reading. We know that these are more than just numbers. These are individual students’ lives that have been impacted for the better.

To put that into perspective, for states across our country, increasing proficiency rates even

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