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

Data released Wednesday 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 requirement approved by the Legislature in 2024 .

Those 3,040 retained students is 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 t

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