Minnesota has identified the end of grade 3 as an expectation for proficient beginning reading for all students. In striving to achieve this goal, the school district's 2024-25 Literacy Plan outlines systems, processes, and the supports related to our elementary reading program. Providing quality curriculum, instruction, assessments, and interventions is the foundation for developing comprehensive systems of support for all learners.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE):

Reading to Learn. There is a saying commonly heard in discussions of early reading that says that students are learning to read in grades K-3 then instruction shifts to reading to learn in grades 4 and beyond. However, this view is unproductive as a stance for literacy instruction. 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 post-secondary or “college and career” success. 

Likewise, students are far behind if it is not until grades 3 or 4 that they begin to learn and apply skills and strategies to comprehend from a variety of texts. Even as attention is placed on early reading to ensure all students acquire the foundations necessary for early reading success, it is important that reading instruction is comprehensive and provides modeling and practice at the word, sentence, and idea levels in all grades. Reading is not just knowing and combining letters, sounds, and words, it is a process of making meaning from text.

More information can be found on the Minnesota Department of Education here.