Hack
BCSC officials gave an update on how they expect third-graders to do on IREAD-3 exams as the test-taking began this week.
The update is the first given to school board members since the fall. BCSC officials said while it can be difficult to predict precisely how students will do on the test, the scores are expected to be trending in the right direction and in line with marks from the previous school year that showed impressive gains.
Laura Hack, director of elementary education, presented data showing how students are predicted to do on the test focused on evaluating the foundational reading skills of the district’s third-graders. She was joined by Jeannie Long, an instructional coach and curriculum specialist, who detailed proactive steps staff are taking to assist students.
Passed by state legislators in 2024, Senate Bill 1, also known as “Every Child Learns to Read,” requires schools to administer IREAD in second grade and direct targeted support for at-risk students struggling to reach reading proficiency. It also required districts to retain students who don’t pass after three tries at the test.
The last update came during the school board meeting on Oct. 28. Hack told the board the expectation was that 74% of students were expected to pass IREAD at the time, although that figure assumed no further instruction or interventions between then and when the test is taken, which wasn’t the case.
The current third grade cohort took the test as second-graders and will begin taking it again this week. Preliminary scores will be available on March 24— Hack told board members administrators expect about 74% of students to pass IREAD out of the gate — and students will have two more times to take the test if they don’t reach proficiency this month.
A second administration of the test will be the week of May 12, and if a given student has still not passed, a third and final try at IREAD will be available during summer school from May 26 to June 6.
Hack told the board that it’s expected between 78 and 84% of third-graders will pass IREAD now. The range symbolizes how the scores will increase over time as students retake the test.
“Eventually we’ll inch-up kid by kid to 84%,” Hack said. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed for even maybe a tad higher.”
According to BCSC records, 85% of BCSC third graders passed IREAD-3 during the 2023-24 school year, up from 80.1% in 2022-23. That increase was the third-highest percentage increase year-to-year in the state, according to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE).
Because of that, the district received an IDOE Early Literacy Achievement Grant of $203,425.76 that would mostly go towards BCSC classified staff and certified teachers who had a direct hand in supporting the improvement in the form of stipends that will be distributed to staff on March 21 as part of their paycheck, according to BCSC.
Over the course of this school year, current third-graders have either taken two rounds of testing from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) or three ILEARN Checkpoints.
Richards, Southside and Taylorsville elementary students participated in the ILEARN Checkpoints, which is part of a pilot program as ILEARN is set to undergo a redesign starting with the 2025-26 school year. IDOE offered schools the ability to pilot the three checkpoints for English and math this school year. Next year, the checkpoints will be enforced at all schools, Hack told school board members.
The NWEA exam was taken by BCSC’s other eight elementary schools and will be replaced by the ILEARN checkpoints next year. Long compared winter NWEA scores from the 2023-24 school year to this year that showed the percentage of students who took the test and passed rose 9 points to 48%. Officials noted this isn’t a direct comparison because all of the elementary schools took the NWEA in 2023-24, as opposed to just eight this year.
“This is a very, very encouraging trend as it highlights the effectiveness of our strategies and supports our instructional practices,” Long said. “While this is not cohort data, it’s a celebration nonetheless.”
Some strategies BCSC has implemented to assist students in increasing their test scores include student interventions starting in early August, fluency checks, sending home additional resources for family support and ongoing progress monitoring in the classroom.
According to data Hack presented, of the 849 students currently in third grade, 252 passed IREAD as second graders and 373 of the remaining 497 students are predicted to pass IREAD this spring or summer.
There are 118 students who are deemed at-risk of not reaching proficiency this year, but 96 of those have good-cause exemptions, meaning they would not be retained in third grade if they don’t pass. These would be students who receive special education services or are English language learners, for example. There are 28 other students who could potentially be held back if their IREAD scores don’t improve, the data showed.
“The next three months will be pivotal,” Hack said. “While we acknowledge the challenges, we also celebrate the progress made and remain steadfast in our mission to ensure all students develop the foundational reading skills for academic and lifelong success. I am so proud of the work being done in our schools— the students, teachers, the administrators, families, Book Buddy volunteers, TAs, and coaches have poured their hearts into this work to help students read. We take this work seriously and know that we change lives because of it.”
