INDIANAPOLIS — According to new data released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), roughly 3,000 students were held back this year after failing the state’s IREAD assessment.

“(It’s) a lot better than what we initially thought,” IDOE Secretary Katie Jenner said. “We’ll be watching those students very closely to make sure they are, indeed, reading by the end of third grade. That is the key point in time so that they can read to learn later on.”

“My belief on public education is that we need to stop focusing so much on the schools and more on the individual kids, and this program does do that,” State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) said.

It's the first time third-graders were held back due to a recently enacted state law. Specifically, of the 84,000 students in the la

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