Out of 11 school districts in Marion County, Warren Township had the highest reading proficiency growth score in a year’s time. While Warren Township still ranks fourth to the bottom in the county with overall reading proficiency, township leaders say they are continuing to make leaps and bounds to grow.
The data is based on scores from IREAD-3, a standardized test taken by all third graders in Indiana. This test is used to measure reading skills based on Indiana Academic Standards.
“Although IREAD3 is administered in third grade, it essentially an assessment of K-3 reading skills,” Superintendent Dr. Tim Hanson said. “For us to continue improving our student reading outcomes, we have to prioritize and support reading development not only during their K-2 school years but also before they start kindergarten.”
Through the IREAD-3 test in the 2022-2023 school year, Warren Township showed a 5% increase in reading proficiency compared to the 2021-2022 school year.
“The 5% increase is an important outcome and does represent the efforts made by Warren teachers, students and parents," Hanson said. “We placed a high priority and intense focus on meeting our third graders where they were and working extremely hard in preparing them to be proficient readers. Although we are very proud of having the largest growth in Marion County, we recognize that we had the most room to grow.”
Warren tested with a 69.8% reading proficiency rate.
While these numbers are not as good as they were before COVID-19, Associate Superintendent Ryan Russell said the township is rebounding and attempting to grow to 95% reading proficiency rate in the next five or so years. Current third graders were not in school when COVID-19 shut down schools. Because of this, Russell said, certain learning skills may have been stunted in past years for third graders, but this year that may not be true. With this goal in mind, targeting students before they hit third grade will prepare them for the test.
“We take a look into students at all levels, specifically our second graders because they have to take the IREAD test to see where they are at,” Russell said.
Even before COVID-19, Warren Township had set a plan in order to help increase overall reading proficiency, and learning.
“Warren has been focused on the Science of Reading or Brain-Based Literacy for a few years, going back just before the pandemic,” Hanson said. “I believe that the growth our students experienced last year was a result of the training and commitment that our K-3 teachers have made since that time. I anticipate other schools who are also investing in the Science of Reading will also see improved IREAD3 results.”
According to school leaders, if there is a push to increase these reading scores and proficiency when a student is younger, the likelihood of success in school when older is much higher.
“The longer a student struggles with reading the harder each year gets,” freshman English teacher Ben Phillips said. “So if [students] don't get caught up between third grade and freshman year it is detrimental.”
Contrary to popular belief, the focus to help increase reading proficiency does not just happen in the classroom. Parents and caregivers who read with their student or encourage their student to read will naturally increase their students reading proficiency. Teachers are not 100% responsible for a student's reading proficiency.
Dr. Hanson recommends these tips for parents to help their students increase reading proficiency:
1. Make the time to read to and with their kids as much as they can.
2. Find out what their child is interested in and utilize the Indianapolis Public Library for books on those topics.
3. Have ongoing conversations with their child's teacher.
4. Participate in school and district events that celebrate and support reading development.