When it comes to literacy, Community Schools of Frankfort is celebrating a milestone worth highlighting: the district achieved its highest IREAD pass rate in history last school year.
The results reflect years of intentional work by teachers, interventionists, support staff, and families to ensure students develop the foundational reading skills they need to succeed.
“Frankfort is proud to serve such a diverse community of students, and it really means that teachers must support the needs of these learners in a variety of ways,” CSF Director of Student Achievement Lesley Miller shared. “One-size-fits-all does not work and is not best practice.”
That commitment to meeting students where they are shows in the results from both second and third grade.
This year marked just the second year that CSF has administered the IREAD assessment to second-grade students. Giving students the opportunity to demonstrate these foundational skills before entering third grade allows teachers to identify areas of need earlier and, for students who pass, continue pushing their learning beyond the skills measured by IREAD.
CSF’s second-grade students achieved a 72% district pass rate, the highest second-grade pass rate yet.
“That means those students entered third grade ready to go deeper,” Miller said.
Third grade students continued that momentum, achieving the highest district pass rates in history, with both elementary schools surpassing 90%.
Green Meadows Elementary achieved a 95% pass rate, while Suncrest Elementary achieved a 91% pass rate – the highest in school history.
The state also provides special recognition to schools reaching a 95% IREAD pass rate, which places Green Meadows among the schools receiving that distinction this year.
While the numbers are worth celebrating, Miller said the goal goes beyond a percentage:
“The most incredible part of this is that in Frankfort, all means all. We work to ensure all students grow and reach these milestones.”
This requires more than one program or intervention. CSF has continued to build systems that provide students with additional instruction, practice, and encouragement when they need it.
Through Spring and Summer Academy, students receive small-group tutoring focused on the specific reading skills they need to strengthen. Teachers use student data to identify those areas and provide targeted support.
The district’s Reading Champions program adds another layer of support by connecting students with one-on-one adult mentors who help build both reading skills and confidence.
Notably, every student who participated in the Reading Champions program this past school year also passed the IREAD assessment.
“We want our students to love reading and feel skillful in doing it,” Miller shared.
These supports are especially meaningful when considering the range of learners represented in CSF classrooms.
This year’s disaggregated results included the highest pass rates in the county for both multilingual learners and students with exceptional needs.
Approximately 9 out of every 10 multilingual learners tested passed IREAD, while more than three-quarters of the nearly 50 exceptional-needs students who took the assessment passed.
Those results reflect the work of the educators who provide specialized instruction and individualized support, including CSF’s special education teachers and multilingual learner educators.
They also demonstrate what is possible when students are provided with the instruction, interventions, and encouragement they need to access rigorous academic expectations.
Multilingual learner literacy achievement at Suncrest will continue to be strengthened in coming years thanks to the school’s growing Dual-Language Immersion program, where students develop foundational language and literacy skills in both Spanish and English.
For students who enter school speaking little or no English at home, learning in both languages provides an opportunity to build literacy while developing English-language skills. At the same time, the program recognizes and builds upon the language students already bring with them.
This program, which officially started in the 2025-2026 school year, adds another facet to CSF’s commitment to helping every student develop the skills necessary to thrive.
The IREAD results are a reflection of more than a single state-mandated assessment. They represent the collective work happening in classrooms, intervention groups, mentoring relationships, and specialized programs across the district.
While the message is simple – “Ensuring excellence for every student every day” – Miller pointed out that the work behind it has many layers, with a consistent focus on literacy.
For CSF, this year’s record IREAD results provide an opportunity to celebrate that work – and, most importantly, the students who continue to grow as readers.
