For the first time last school year, Utah third-graders took the Iowa Reading Test twice - once in the fall and then again in the spring. In the fall, 79 percent of Utah third-graders were reading on grade level.

By the spring, that number had jumped to 86 percent of Utah third-graders.

"This is confirmation that learning is going on in the classroom," said Mark Peterson, Utah Office of Education spokesman.

On the fall test, Utah third-graders scored higher than 57 percent of third-graders across the nation. On the spring test, Utah scored in the 60th percentile nationwide.

Before now, Utah third-graders took the test only once. In 2007, lawmakers passed HB155, which mandated that third-graders take another reading test, saying in the bill, "Almost all reading failure is preventable if reading difficulties are diagnosed and treated by no later than the end of the third grade."

Lynne Greenwood, state director of curriculum and instruction, credited the state's K-3 reading program for some of the positive results. Under the program, which lawmakers passed in 2004, school districts create plans to improve student reading achievement and can use state money for reading coaches, reading materials and some assessment tools, among other things, Greenwood said.

She said every Utah school district participates in the program.

"The K-3 reading initiative certainly was the main catalyst to really help districts focus on reading improvement," Greenwood said. "We've had a few years, so now we're starting to see the results."

According to the results released today, Utah students in almost all ethnic, economic and ability groups improved between the fall and spring tests. The only group that saw a decline were "emergent" students, meaning those students just beginning to learn the English language. But only 119 students tested were considered "emergent."

Students were tested on vocabulary, factual understanding, inference and interpretation, analysis and generalization and critical understanding.