INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Education is releasing new data for the 2024-25 IREAD test, specifically how it relates to repeating third grade.

The assessment tests whether third graders are reading at proficiency levels.

Third grade is seen as a pivotal year for students, where learning to read switches to reading to learn. If those foundational reading skills aren’t there, education experts say it could led to students being academically behind for the rest of their lives.

Over the summer, state education officials celebrated the latest IREAD results, with 87.3% of third graders, or 73,500 students, passing. It marked a nearly 5% increase in third grade literacy rates and the fourth consecutive year of increases.

Under a new law, if third graders don’t pass the IREAD asses

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