Three Fishers-area elementary schools hit 100%
Hamilton Southeastern Schools’ third graders posted a 97.3% pass rate on the 2026 IREAD assessment, the district’s best showing in six years and a mark no other large district in Indiana matched.
Of 1,426 HSE third graders who took the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination test, 1,387 demonstrated proficient reading skills. The result is up 1.3 percentage points from 96% in 2025 and more than three points from 2024. Among districts testing more than 600 students statewide, none scored higher.
Three schools — Hoosier Road Elementary, Geist Elementary and Southeastern Elementary — recorded perfect 100% pass rates. Eleven of the district’s 13 elementary schools met or exceeded Indiana’s 95% literacy goal, and every HSE elementary came in at 90% or better.
“Improving on an already strong result is not easy, and our teachers and school leaders deserve tremendous credit,” Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley said. “They know their students and pay close attention to what each child needs. That means using the data, adjusting instruction and continuing to find ways to help students grow. Our students put in the work, families reinforced it at home, and together they made this possible. They should be incredibly proud.”
Well ahead of the state
The district’s number sits nearly nine percentage points above the statewide figure. The Indiana Department of Education reported this week that 88.7% of Hoosier third graders passed IREAD in 2026 — an improvement of about 1.5 percentage points over last year, the second-largest single-year gain since the test began, and the fifth consecutive year of statewide growth. Indiana’s literacy rates have now moved past pre-pandemic levels.
The stakes attached to those numbers have risen sharply. Under a literacy law passed by the General Assembly in 2024 and first enforced last school year, third graders who cannot pass IREAD after multiple attempts must repeat the grade. About 3,040 students statewide — roughly 3.6% of test takers — were retained in third grade following the 2025 administration, more than seven times the 412 held back two years earlier. A follow-up measure signed in 2025 guarantees students at least two chances to retake the exam over the summer before retention applies, and lawmakers have since moved to exempt some English learners.
Good-cause exemptions remain narrow: they largely apply to students in special education, English learners with fewer than two years of Indiana literacy services, students who have already been retained, and those who passed the ILEARN math assessment.
Second graders gaining too
HSE also tested its second graders, who can take IREAD a year early under the state’s optional administration. Their pass rate rose from 81% in 2025 to 83% in 2026. Eight of the district’s 13 elementary schools improved over their 2025 second-grade results.
Passing early takes pressure off both students and schools — a second grader who clears the bar has effectively banked the requirement before the retention clock starts.
District officials credited evidence-based reading instruction, regular progress monitoring and targeted intervention for students who fall behind.
“Reading touches every subject and every part of a student’s school experience,” Kegley said. “We are proud of this progress, but we are not finished. We will keep working with students who need more time and support.”
HSE serves roughly 20,000 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade across Fishers and parts of Noblesville. The district said it will release its 2026 ILEARN results separately once the state publishes them next month.