Almost 200 northeast Indiana students are among about 3,000 statewide who must repeat third grade because they failed a key literacy test, according to new data from the Indiana Department of Education.

About 700 other area students also didn't pass the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination, or IREAD, but they advanced to fourth grade because they received a good cause exemption.

Such information is detailed on the new IREAD Good Cause Exemption Dashboard, which officials unveiled during this week's State Board of Education meeting.

The dashboard – eddata.doe.in.gov/PublicHome – provides state-, district- and school-level information about IREAD pass rates, good cause exemptions and retention.

The exam, which Hoosiers have taken for more than a decade, measures foundational re

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