STATEHOUSE (Jan. 29, 2025) — State Sens. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond), Linda Rogers (R-Granger) and Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) are today celebrating Indiana's impressive improvement in reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Scores improved from 19th to 6th in the nation among fourth graders and 17th to 6th among eighth graders following a series of statewide efforts to improve reading education in Indiana.
"Hoosier educators deserve our enormous thanks for putting in so many hours to successfully integrate the best teaching methods and significantly improve the reading ability of the next generation," Raatz said. "I would be remiss if I did not also thank Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana's Secretary of Education, for her leadership on this effort. Students who learn to read by the end of third grade successfully read to learn the rest of their educational careers."
Indiana's focus on reading education has included $170 million in investments by both the state government and philanthropy. In the state budget passed in 2023, Indiana invested $60 million to improve reading education. These efforts, assisted by an additional $85 million investment by Lilly Endowment, Inc., accomplished several goals, including:
In 2023, House Enrolled Act 1558, sponsored by Freeman, was also passed into law. This law required schools to use curricular materials aligned to the Science of Reading and required teacher preparation programs to train new teachers in the Science of Reading.
"The foundation for a good education is strong student literacy," Freeman said. "I sponsored this law to help give teachers the tools they need to help their students get the proper education they deserve. These results just reinforce the importance of the Science of Reading, and I congratulate our students and their teachers on these excellent scores."
Senate Republicans also helped lead on this issue by prioritizing and passing legislation to help Indiana's reading gains continue. In 2024, Senate Enrolled Act 1, the caucus's top priority bill, authored by Rogers, included several provisions to improve student literacy, including:
"I am extremely pleased to see Indiana students receive our best-ever ranking for NAEP fourth-grade reading scores. This is a testament to the hard work our teachers have been doing to improve reading instruction, and I congratulate the students, teachers and parents who achieved these exceptional results," Rogers said. "These results show that Hoosier students are eager to learn and grow, which is one reason why I authored a law last year to further help encourage these goals. While the law did not take effect until after the 2024 NAEP was given, I strongly believe it will only help Indiana continue to improve our reading scores for years to come."
Senate Republicans will continue prioritizing K-12 students and educators and providing the resources they need to be successful as the 2025 legislative session continues. To view a list of bills filed for the 2025 legislative session, visit iga.in.gov.
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To view NAEP test scores by state and more information, visit https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/snapshots/.
State Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond) represents Senate District 27,
which includes Henry, Union and Wayne counties, and portions of Franklin County.
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State Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) represents Senate District 32,
which includes portions of Johnson and Marion counties.
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State Sen. Linda Rogers (R-Granger) represents Senate District 11,
which includes portions of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties.
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