Early reading test shows gains for Idaho students from spring and fall

Results from the spring Idaho Reading Indicator show that more than two-thirds of all Idaho students in kindergarten through third grade were reading at grade level by the end of the school year.

The results were announced in a news release from the Idaho State Department of Education this week. Across Idaho, 90,682 students in kindergarten through third grade took the assessment in May.

The results showed that 68.2% of K-3 students were reading at grade level, which increased by 3% from spring 2021. However, it was also 1.5% below testing done in 2019, which was the last spring test administered before the COVID-19 pandemic. Spring 2020 results were incomplete because of the pandemic, according to the news release

By grade level, kindergarteners were 64.8% proficient, which was up from numbers in 2021 and 2019. First graders were at 63.8% proficient, which was up from 2021, but had declined from 66.7% in 2019. Second graders were 72.4% proficient, which was up from 2021, but down from 2019, when 75.3% were proficient. Third graders also had a higher proficiency from 2021 at 71.7%, which was down from 73.2% in 2019, according to the release.