A new report indicates 70 percent of Iowa students in kindergarten through third grade met or surpassed reading goals by the end of last school year. Iowa Department of Education director Ryan Wise says that’s a four percent improvement in reading proficiency in the early grades compared to the year before.

 

Students are tested three times during the school year to assess their reading skills. The testing began in the fall of 2015 and Wise says it helps quickly identify which kids need more help.

 

Iowa policymakers abandoned a previous plan to force students to repeat third grade if they were not reading at grade level by the end of the year. A pilot program which provided extra money so struggling third graders could attend summer school will not be continued.