EXCLUSIVE: Read How Indy Black Third Graders Did On This Year’s IREAD Tests

The second year of the Indiana Department of Education’s IREAD reading test for Indiana third graders was a mixed bag for schools and districts with a mixture of incremental gains and declines, mixed in some cases with startling growth and decline. The data was released late Friday, May 10th by the Indiana Department of Education. Overall 86.1% of the state’s third graders passed IREAD this year; compared to 85.0% last year. Demographically, 70.3% of Indiana’s African-American students; 90.6% of whites and 77.1% of Hispanics passed IREAD this year. Last year, 68.1% of African-Americans, 89.4% of whites and 75.4% of Hispanics passed IREAD. Among Indianapolis/Marion County’s public and public charter schools the results were similar to last year.  Overall, 75.4% of the city/county’s third graders passed IREAD; slightly more than the 74.3% that passed last year. For all eleven public school districts in the city/county, 75.6% passed IREAD, just a fraction above the 75.1% last year.  For township students, 79.2% passed this year versus 78.3% last year. The biggest jump occurred in charter schools where 72.3% passed IREAD this year compared to 66.1% in 2012. Unfortunately, the percent of Indianapolis Public School students passing IREAD in 2013 dropped to 66.1% from 67.0% in 2012. In overall IREAD results in Indianapolis’ eleven school districts, only four showed increases in the percent of students passing; while seven showed decreases. Increasing were Pike, Wayne, Washington and Lawrence Townships. Declining were Decatur, Franklin, Perry, and Warren Townships, Beech Grove, Speedway and IPS. But it was the reverse for African-American students as in seven of the eleven school districts in Indianapolis, the percentage of African-American students passing IREAD increased; while the percentage of Blacks passing decreased in just four districts. Increases occurred in Pike, Decatur, Washington, Wayne, Lawrence Townships, Beech Grove and IPS. With declines happening in Warren, Franklin and Perry Townships and Speedway. Of the twenty-one top performing districts in IREAD in Indianapolis, ten were charters. Led by Flanner House Elementary which last year had the worst IREAD performance in the state. This year the charter, one of the first in the state, recovered with a 97.4% IREAD passing rate which is the BEST performance of any charter and second best performance of any Indianapolis public school. In overall IREAD performance, top charters included Paramount School of Excellence, Irvington, Padua and Andrew Academies, Hoosier Academy Virtual Charter, Andrew J. Brown, Christel House and Challenge Academy. Seven are Mayor’s Charters and one is chartered by Ball State.  The poorest performing charters overall were Imagine East (which had its charter revoked and will close next month) and SE School of Excellence.  The former is a Ball State Charter, the latter a Mayor’s Charter. In terms of African-American third grade performance in IREAD, Flanner House was tops among charters followed by Paramount School of Excellence, Andrew Academy, Challenge Academy, Andrew J. Brown. The charters with the poorest African-American IREAD performance were Imagine East, and Hoosier Academy Virtual, both Ball State Charters. The charts below highlight IREAD performance for all students and for African-American students.

INDIANAPOLIS DISTRICTS & CHARTERS RANKED BY IREAD PASSING SCORES FOR TOTAL STUDENTS & BLACK STUDENTS – 2013 VS 2012

Chart Compilation ©2013 WTLC/Radio One.

INDIANAPOLIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS RANKED BY 2013 IREAD

PASSING SCORES FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS

Chart Compilation ©2013 WTLC/Radio One.

INDIANAPOLIS SUBURBAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS RANKED BY 2013 IREAD PASSING SCORES FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS

Only schools with more than Ten Black 3^rd Graders Tested are Ranked

Chart Compilation ©2013 WTLC/Radio One

INDIANAPOLIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS RANKED BY LOWEST 2013 IREAD PASSING SCORES FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS

Chart Compilation ©2013 WTLC/Radio One