85% of Mississippi third graders passed reading assessments, DOE says

JACKSON, Miss. - Eighty-five percent of Mississippi third graders passed their 2024-2025 reading assessments after the school year's final retest, the state's Department of Education announced Friday.

The department said that, under Mississippi state law, third grade students are required to achieve a passing score of Level 3 out of 5 on the reading portion of the state's English Language Arts assessment in order to be promoted to fourth grade.

The state said that 77.3 percent of third graders passed the first reading assessment in the spring of 2025; state law says that any third grader who doesn't pass the initial test will be given up to two attempts to retake it. Those third graders who didn't pass the spring 2025 test retook the assessment in early May and in June.

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