INDIANAPOLIS (July 16, 2025) – The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) today released the spring 2025 ILEARN assessment results, revealing a continued positive trend in student math proficiency across all grade levels. However, English/Language Arts (ELA) proficiency remained largely stagnant compared to the previous year, prompting renewed focus on literacy initiatives.
Statewide, 42.1% of Indiana students met or exceeded proficiency standards in math, a significant 5.2 percentage point increase since the 2021 baseline. While ELA proficiency also saw a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points since 2021, reaching 40.6%, most grade levels remained within one percentage point of last year’s ELA scores. Governor Mike Braun emphasized the critical need for continued focus on both early and adolescent literacy.
Notably, specific student populations showed encouraging signs of growth. Math proficiency rates increased for all student groups since 2021. Black and Hispanic students, in particular, saw the highest year-over-year percentage point increases in math. Students in special education and those receiving free/reduced-price meals also demonstrated improved growth in both ELA and math.
Looking ahead, Indiana is set to launch a redesigned ILEARN assessment in the 2025-2026 school year. This new “through-year” model, which was piloted in approximately 1,350 schools this past academic year, will feature three “checkpoints” throughout the year, culminating in a shortened summative assessment.
Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner highlighted the importance of this shift. “While we are positively moving and improving in math, there is an urgent need to support middle school students in English/language arts,” said Jenner. “The new ILEARN Checkpoints… will provide a beginning, middle and end-of-year look at student performance. This will be key to knowing early and often if a student has mastered certain knowledge or skills, or if they may still be struggling, ensuring the student has increased, personalized support.”
The redesigned assessment aims to provide more actionable, real-time data to students, parents, and teachers, enabling timely interventions and personalized instruction throughout the academic year. The ILEARN assessment measures proficiency in content standards for ELA and math for grades three through eight, and its results are specific to Indiana and not comparable to other states’ assessments.