Educational Opportunity

Third grade literacy is a critical milestone: research shows that third grade students who do not read proficiently at this age face long-term challenges.¹ Because of this, the State of Minnesota expects that each and every student is proficient in beginning reading skills by the end of grade three. 

Currently, 47 percent of third-grade students in Minnesota’s public schools test proficient in reading. Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch are half as likely to be proficient readers as compared to students from higher-income families. Large differences exist between different racial groups as well. Fewer than one in three Black or African American, American Indian, other Indigenous Peoples, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students are proficient readers, which is 11 to 33 percentage points lower than their white classmates.

Quality instruction, identification of individual instructional needs, early interventions, and evidence-based curriculum are key elements of a comprehensive system of reading education that enables all learners to achieve reading proficiency by the end of third grade. When we strengthen instructional literacy practices; make data informed decisions; and increase collaboration between early childhood programs, schools, families, and communities, all children in Minnesota benefit, especially those children who are the most persistently and systematically underserved. 

Third grade proficiency does not represent the end of learning to read, as increasingly complex texts demand continued instruction in the skills and strategies necessary to gain adequate reading proficiency for later postsecondary or “career and college” success. To enable success at all grade levels, a robust system of reading instruction must include appropriate interventions for kindergarten through high school students.

Focusing on literacy will enable our children to experience policies and procedures that embody a multilayered, equity-centered systemic approach that honors multiple identities and instills a sense of agency and belonging for all members of the school community.

Goal: Every child in Minnesota can read at or above grade level and multilingual learners and students receiving special education services are supported in achieving their individualized reading goals.

Measurable goal for 2027: Increase the percentage of students reading at or above grade level (as measured by the annual state assessments), by the end of grade 3, to 64 percent.