For the second year in a row, the Post Falls School District is leading the state in early literacy, according to the results of the 2024-25 Idaho Reading Indicator.

Post Falls students ranked first among Idaho’s largest 25 school districts in IRI performance, with a little more than 84% of the district’s 1,729 K-3 students meeting or exceeding grade-level benchmarks at the end of the school year. 

That number is “well above” the statewide average of about 71% of K-3 students reading at grade level, according to the school district. 

Superintendent Dena Naccarato said investment in early literacy is behind the success in the statewide standardized test that measures the reading ability of students in kindergarten through third grade.

“For the past three years, our district has focused resources on improving primary literacy in all seven of our elementary schools, and it certainly shows in the data,” Naccarato said in a news release. “We have specifically invested in teacher training and coaching support focused on effective classroom instruction grounded in the science of reading.” 

The Coeur d’Alene School District ranked fifth among the largest districts, with 78.6% of its 2,032 K-3 students reading at grade level at the end of the year, followed by the Lakeland School District, where 78.3% of its 1,242 K-3 students read at or above grade level. 

Hayden Meadows ranked second among all traditional public schools, with 93.9% of the school’s K-3 students reading at grade level at the end of the year. 

The top-ranked school, Paramount Elementary in Meridian, saw 95% of its 285 K-3 students reading at grade level. The other top schools are all in the Treasure Valley. 

Two of the three top-performing nontraditional schools are in Kootenai County. 

North Idaho STEM Charter Academy in Rathdrum, the top-ranked nontraditional school, saw 95.3% of its 191 K-3 students reading at grade level. Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities in Coeur d’Alene came in third place, with 92.4% reading at grade level. 

Statewide, the Post Falls School District ranked seventh. The other districts that make up the top 10 are small and largely rural, with 38 to 203 K-3 students each, compared to more than 1,700 K-3 students in Post Falls. 

In the two years since the Post Falls School District transitioned to a four-day school week, Naccarato said reading performance has improved. She said the district’s approach to instructional time played a role. 

“With our move to the four-day school week, we realigned curriculum pacing guides and are very intentional about every minute of instructional time we have with our students,” she said.