Idaho’s K-3 students have exceeded pre-pandemic reading rates for the first time, according to results from a spring statewide reading exam.
Nearly 71% of young readers, or about 61,000 students, are at grade level or above. That’s up from 66.5% of test takers at grade level last spring.
“These results suggest that the investments being made statewide around literacy funding and training are paying off,” state superintendent Debbie Critchfield said in a statement. “This achievement should serve as an example of what’s possible when attention and resources are focused on an area of need, and I’d like to thank our educators directly for making a positive impact on our youngest learners’ futures in education and beyond.”
Still, about 25,000 K-3 students statewide remain below grade level.
The news comes amid a $5 million state investment in a professional development program called SMART or Striving to Meet Achievement in Reading Together, which is informed by the science of reading. The goal is for all K-3 educators to receive the training within the next three years.
It’s just the latest state investment in reading. Gov. Brad Little has long advocated for increased literacy funding — which doubled in 2020, then nearly tripled in 2023.
“As we continue to see statewide investment in educator training in the Science of Reading and phonics combined with flexible funding that has allowed districts and charters the freedom to focus on initiatives such as full-day kindergarten and afterschool reading programs, I believe that we’ll continue to see growth towards our overall goals for student literacy achievement,” Critchfield said.
The results are from the Idaho Reading Indicator, a statewide exam that measures students’ literacy each fall and spring. The test determines whether student literacy is at, near, or below grade level. About 86,000 students took the exam — which is considered high-stakes, since scores are tied to funding.
Since 2019, first- through third-graders have struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels of proficiency, but that appears to be changing.
To learn more about the IRI and other statewide exams, go here.
Grade-level breakdowns: Reading improvements across the board
When broken down by grade level, the test scores show students are beginning to rebound from pandemic-era impacts.
The biggest improvement was among kindergartners, with nearly 79% reading at grade level or higher this year, as compared to 66% last spring — marking the first time kindergarten scores have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Students in grades 1-3 have still not reached 2019 literacy levels, but showed across-the-board improvements from last year.
The smallest increase was among third-graders, who showed gains of about a half percentage point.
The 2024-25 school year was the first time districts have been able to exempt students from participating in the IRI if they have been enrolled for less than two full school years at a U.S. elementary school and have scored low on the state English language proficiency assessment.
Of the 2,652 students who qualified for the exemption, 1,727 did not take the test — representing about 1.5% of all test-takers.
“This is the first year that our districts and charters have had the ability to exempt some English learner students from taking a test in a language in which they are not proficient,” said Critchfield. “Though the exclusion of this small group of students did have a slight impact on the comparability of this year’s data to last year’s, the improvements that our local education agencies have made are still strong and should be celebrated.”
The significant gains, overall and especially in kindergarten, are a point of pride for Critchfield after controversy in recent years over how literacy funds are allocated.
“More and more Idaho students are leaving third grade fully prepared to take on the next phase of their education with essential reading skills,” said Critchfield.
Click here to see your district or charter’s scores.
EdNews data analyst Randy Schrader and reporter Carly Flandro contributed to this report. Check back in with EdNews in coming days for more coverage of the IRI.