Operation Education: More opportunities to take the IREAD test helping more students pass скачать в хорошем качестве

Operation Education: More opportunities to take the IREAD test helping more students pass

There are high hopes for early literacy in Indiana. Operation Education has found early IREAD testing is giving students more confidence and teachers more insight which could lead to better outcomes. The first IREAD tests for 2026 begin in just a few days for all second-grade students and most third graders in the state. The IREAD assessment is a state-mandated test that all students must pass by the end of grade three. It measures whether students are proficient in foundational reading skills including phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. Third graders who do not pass, can be retained with few exceptions. This year's third grade IREAD test takers are more prepared than ever before. That is because they have already taken the IREAD test at least once. Noah Nordstrom is about to turn 9-years-old, but his birthday won’t come this year. He is a leap year baby, born on February 29th. The Beiger Elementary School third grader will celebrate his skipped birthday this weekend and then take the IREAD test next week. “I’m nervous, like it is going to be hard,” Noah told WSBT22 about how he was feeling about the IREAD. Noah may be nervous, but he is prepared. He shared some of the ways he manages his testing stress including tapping his finger on his upper lip to calm himself – a trick his teacher taught him. “It calms you down and slows your breathing down,” says Noah as he takes a big breath. Noah is familiar with the IREAD test because he has already taken it a couple times. Starting in 2025, second graders in the state were required to take the test and could attempt it a second time before starting third grade. Second graders who pass the test, do not have to retake it. There is a benefit to those early tests – even for those students who don’t pass. “It is good because they know what to expect, which is lovely. They've matured so much from the end of second grade until now and they've learned so much, that now they realize they've got this test. It is a piece of cake,” says Noah’s teacher, Robyn Futa. Futa has been in education for decades and has been giving the IREAD test for 13 years. She is an expert in building third grade literacy and in building confidence among her students. “I try to make them understand how important it is that they do their best, that they read, that they take time, that they think about their answers, that they go back and check. But then I also teach them that they're far more than a test score. That they've got this. They have to have faith in themselves and they'll do fine,” says Futa. The first IREAD testing window officially opens on Monday, March 2nd. All Indiana second graders and third graders who have not already passed the IREAD, will take the assessment once between March 2nd and March 13th. Then, the IREAD summer testing window opens on May 11th through June 26th and will offer more testing opportunities to certain students. State law now requires that third grade students who do not pass the IREAD and do not qualify for a Good Cause Exemption be retained. Last year, more than 3,000 third grade students were retained in the third grade after they didn’t pass the IREAD and didn’t quality for a Good Cause Exemption. Also beginning in 2025, all second-grade students participated in IREAD with testing opportunities in both the spring and summer retest windows. Prior to that, schools had been able to opt-in since 2022. Statewide data from the Indiana Department of Education showed in 2025 all 81,792 second grade students in the state took the IREAD. Nearly half, or 48%, of second graders passed the IREAD in 2025 and their scores will count toward the 2026 third grade literacy rate. Of the second grade IREAD test-takers in 2025, the results showed 20% were “On-Track” and 32% were "At-Risk.” Read full story here: https://wsbt.com/news/operation-educa... _________________ Stay up to date by following our social media: WSBT 22 on Facebook:   / wsbtnews   WSBT 22 on X:   / wsbt   WSBT 22 on Instagram:   / wsbt   For more information, visit https://wsbt.com/ Have a news tip? Send it directly to our newsroom: wsbtnews@wsbt.com WSBT is an IN based station and a CBS Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. Sinclair owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 163 television stations in 77 markets, after pending transactions. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates.