INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s secretary of education on Wednesday said last year’s reading scores prove some of the state’s strategies so far are working.

Katie Jenner’s comments came following a ceremony honoring the 283 schools in the state in which at least 95% of third graders passed the IREAD test last school year. That’s an improvement over the 241 schools that hit that mark the year before.

Jenner says schools taking part in the Indiana Literacy Cadre program showed the most improvement, a 2.5% boost in reading scores on average. The program trains students in phonemic awareness and vocabulary and pairs teachers with literacy coaches to help them develop their reading curriculum along Science of Reading guidelines.

“We are just going to keep investing in what works and then if something doesn’t necessarily work, we will reallocate those dollars to what is working for our schools and our students,” she said.

Indiana’s poor reading scores have drawn lawmakers’ attention for the past two legislative sessions. The General Assembly in 2023 passed a law to require all schools to use the Science of Reading curriculum when teaching children to read. Then, this spring, the legislature approved a measure to require children to take the IREAD text in second grade instead of third grade, and to hold students back a year if they are unable to pass the test after three tries and mandated reading interventions. That requirement takes effect for the 2024-2025 school year.

Jenner says some reading programs have yielded better results than others. A Science of Reading-related grant program, for instance, only netted about a 0.1% gain in reading scores. She says her department will take these early results into account as it decides which programs to continue to support. Jenner says those results will inform her conversations with lawmakers when they begin crafting the state’s next budget in January.

“Like with anything, you have to continue measurement. You have to continue understanding, is it long-term sustainable? You know, will it continue?” she said.

The Literacy Cadre program currently is funded by a Lilly Endowment grant. Jenner says the grant has a few years left before it runs out.

The secretary of education says, while reading scores for Black students and students with disabilities have improved markedly, Hispanic students and students who are English-language learners have not shown any gains.

She says some schools recognized at Wednesday’s ceremony improved English-language learners’ scores, and education officials should pay close attention to what those schools are doing.

A number of Indianapolis-area schools rated among the 283 schools that scored 95% proficiency or better. They included Clearwater Elementary School in Indianapolis’ Washington Township, Prairie Trace Elementary School in Carmel and Eden Elementary School in Greenfield.