Indiana launches new data tool to empower people and improve literacy in students
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Department of Education on Tuesday said its “new data visualization tool” will empower people with information to improve literacy in the state.
New data from the department shows that Indiana’s literacy rate has dropped almost 10% since 2013. In an interview with News 8’s Hanna Mordoh, Indiana’s Secretary of Education Katie Jenner described the downward trajectory as “already in process” before COVID-19.
“If we look longitudinally back 10 years ago, we see that over 90% of our students were reading. I think the highest was 91.4%. Today, we’re at 81.9%, and that drop was happening before the pandemic. And then this just exacerbated it,” Jenner told News 8.
The department’s data shows that in the 2022-2023 school year, 81.9% of third graders in Indiana were proficient in reading, which was only a 0.3% increase from the previous year.
Many proposals Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb raised in his 2024 State of the State address Tuesday pushed for better education outcomes, and the department hopes that the new tool will aid this goal.
The tool, which functions like a heat map, will allow users to view hot spot areas for passing and failing school districts at both state and school levels. The tools will also show numbers and percentages for the following areas:
- The number (or percentage) of students able to read by the end of third grade
- The number of students not able to read by the end of third grade
- The number of students advancing to fourth grade without foundational reading skills
- The number of students earning a Good Cause Exemption (GCE)
- The number of students who are proficient in math (passed ILEARN Math in third grade), but are not proficient in reading (did not pass IREAD-3)
The department says as the tool is refined, “it will help to: quantify the number of students in each grade level who are unable to read; track the long-term impacts of illiteracy; evaluate the impact of the state’s current literacy efforts; and inform ongoing policy decisions.”
Holcomb said in the release the state in 2022 established a goal to bring 95% of third graders across the state to a proficient reading level by 2027.
“The future of our state depends on our ability to equip our youngest Hoosiers with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful both in life and in their chosen career, and this starts with ensuring students can read,” he said.
The state’s literacy tool can be viewed on the Department of Education’s website.
News 8’s Gregg Montgomery contributed to this report.