HANCOCK COUNTY – All of the county’s school corporations exceeded statewide performance in the latest annual standardized reading test for third-graders.
A total of 81.6% across Indiana demonstrated proficient reading skills on the 2021-2022 Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination, or IREAD-3 assessment, according to information released by the Indiana Department of Education.
Here is a summary of where scores stand in each county district:
Southern Hancock
The Southern Hancock school district had the highest overall passing score in the county with 92.8% of their third graders passing the IREAD test. They had 218 of 235 students pass the yearly standardized test.
Sugar Creek Elementary school students had the highest score for the SH district with a 94.6% mark, or 87 of 92 students passing the test.
Southern Hancock superintendent Lisa Lantrip said IREAD-3 is an important benchmark in measuring student literacy.
“A pass rate over 90% is a testament to the successes of our teachers, administrators and staff,” she said.
The district supports students through a number of remediation programs, Landtrip noted, like SOAR (Summer Opportunity for Academic Readiness) and the HOSTS (Helping One Student to Succeed) volunteer reading tutoring program.
“HOSTS volunteers help students with literacy skills in a one-on-one tutoring session once per week,” Lantrip said. “Programs like SOAR and HOSTS make tremendous differences in helping our students achieve their personal best.”
Greenfield-Central
Throughout the Greenfield-Central school district, 92.6% of third-graders passed the recent IREAD-3, up from 87.3% the previous year.
Harold Olin, the school corporation’s superintendent, said he was pleased with the scores.
“We like to be at 90% on that first take of the assessment even before we do the reassessment,” Olin said. “We came pretty close to that, and to have three of our four schools pushing 94% after the second take – very happy with that.”
He added G-C places a lot of focus on reading instruction throughout the day for its students in kindergarten through third grade.
“We want to make sure kids have that foundation so they can be successful for the rest of their schooling and really beyond schooling,” he said.
Olin noted G-C’s most recent marks brought it back to a similar level achieved before the COVID-19 pandemic. Its district-wide pass rate for 2019 was 92.4%.
“Happy to see the bounceback,” Olin said. “We still have some work to do, and we know that.”
One of the ways he encourages staff in that work is to remain curious in their craft.
“The things that we’ve done for the last decade, two or three decades, may not be the most effective strategy really in any area of teaching and learning, but especially in the area of reading,” he said. “We know a lot more about how students learn to read in 2022 versus what we knew even five years ago. That has really shaped some of the interventions that we’re doing with students.”
Mt. Vernon
Hancock County’s school corporation with the largest student population came out of the recent IREAD-3 with a pass rate of 92.4%, down slightly from the previous year’s 92.8%.
Jack Parker, Mt. Vernon superintendent, said much of that result stems from the hard work of those at the front of classrooms.
“Our teachers really take this to heart,” Parker said. “Especially those primary teachers at our elementary schools that are working very hard for essentially four years to get kids’ reading levels high. And they do a lot of extra work and support students because they understand the importance of reading and getting a good, early start.”
Mt. Vernon’s corporation-wide IREAD-3 score isn’t quite back to the 95.7% it tallied before COVID-19 struck the nation. Parker thinks the pandemic impacted primary grades more than others, noting how the district’s results in another state standardized test that includes older students recently improved from before the virus.
The corporation’s latest IREAD-3 result was one of the higher ones in the state, and yet still needs a few more percentage points to get back to pre-pandemic levels, he continued.
“I think that’s pretty telling, in my opinion – this learning that was left on the table,” Parker said.
He recalled how the pandemic closed school buildings in March 2020 through the end of the academic year, and how different daily school life became over the years that followed due to all of the precautions that had to be followed.
“These third-graders never had a full first-grade year,” Parker said. “They experienced a second-grade year and third-grade year that was quite different than what generations had experienced before. And all the accommodations teachers had to make and parents had to make – we’re really proud of that work, but it is still something that we believe we have more work to do, and we will, and we’re going the right direction.”
That direction, Parker continued, includes measures like student assessments Mt. Vernon schools conduct throughout the year.
“So we can start tracking the progress of kids who might need enrichment,” he said, adding schools have data teams watching information from those assessments on a regular basis.
He also pointed to the educational specialists available at Mt. Vernon who provide extra time to students in need of additional instruction.
Eastern Hancock
The Eastern Hancock school district had the county’s lowest IREAD-3 result, at 90.8%, although it was still above the state average.
Eastern Hancock superintendent George Philhower said it was great to see all the districts in the county get great scores.
“All of the schools in the county did very well, especially since last year was greatly impacted by COVID,” he said. “We are very proud of the incredible teachers and staff we have at Eastern Hancock.”
Philhower noted they work hard every day to meet each student’s needs and help them grow as much as possible.
Amanda Pyle, the principal of the district’s elementary school, reiterated her superintendent’s thoughts.
“We were proud of our kids and teachers,” she said. “Our teachers and staff work hard to meet each kid where they are and provide them with resources and support to grow.”
That, she said, requires hard work and dedication every day.
Kristy Deer of the Daily Reporter contributed to this story.
2022 IREAD-3 results
Southern Hancock 92.8%
Brandywine Elementary School 90.7%
New Palestine Elementary School 92.1%
Sugar Creek Elementary School 94.6%
Greenfield-Central 92.6%
Eden Elementary School 97.6%
JB Stephens Elementary School 93.4%
Harris Elementary School 93.7%
Weston Elementary School 88.5%
Mt. Vernon 92.4%
Fortville Elementary School 92%
Mt. Comfort Elementary School 91.5%
McCordsville Elementary School 93.6%
Eastern Hancock (Elementary School) 90.8%
Source: Indiana Department of Education
