Louisiana students in kindergarten through third grade improved their reading proficiency by 2.3 percentage points on a literacy screener given at the beginning of this school year. The overall score for these grades was 46.9 in 2024.  First grade grew by 4 to 49.9, second grade improved by 3.8 to 54.5, and third grade increased by 2.4 to 54. Only students entering kindergarten declined when compared to last year’s class, dropping by 1.1 to a score of 28.4. This is the second year in a row for the literacy screener, which was passed by the Legislature in 2021 to be required as part of the K-3rd grade curriculum. The Fall reading report, which is a description of the overall results, uses data from the beginning of year literacy screener in order to determine success. The Department of Education can measure reading proficiency through screeners given at the beginning, middle and end of the school year at increasing difficulties to measure growth. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, results from the literacy screeners will be included in school performance scores. Student cohort data, which tracks scores of children as they move up in grades, showed even more improvement with a 9.3 percentage point increase. The kindergarten class in 2023 grew by 20.4 points in 2024 as first graders. Last year’s first graders improved by 8.6 points as second graders and last year’s second graders improved by 3.3 points as third graders. This is the first school year third grade students may be held back based on their scores on end of year screeners. Students will be given three opportunities to score above the lowest achievement level of well below. This includes the end of year screener in April, a second opportunity at the end of May and a third opportunity following optional summer learning. “Louisiana students are benefitting from quality instruction, sound policy, and a return to basic fundamentals like phonics,” said Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley in a department news release. “We’re seeing encouraging growth and must take advantage of this opportunity to continue aligning our state around what we know is best for students and teachers.”