It was plain and simple: 12.6.
To some, that might be a mileage distance to run, or getting a bonus half cookie with the dozen from the bakery. But for West Noble Elementary, 12.6 was a numerically attainable goal.
12.6 represented the percent increase principal Mark Yoder and the staff wanted to achieve on the 2025 third grade Spring IREAD-3 testing. After achieving only a 49 percent score in 2024, which fell 14 percent below the state average, Yoder felt like his students had more in them. And boy, did they ever.
West Noble Elementary hit their mark on the nose, raising their stock 12.6 percent to raise to 62 percent, which happened to match the state average for 2025. While 62 percent is still a little below where the school district would like to be overall, the marked improvement was a huge win for Yoder and his staff.
“I'm very proud of our staff and kids for working so hard at doing new things, hard things,” stated Yoder. “It took a lot of dedication, effort and perseverance from everyone to reach our goal. We implemented a new reading curriculum and new assessment practices. That made a big difference. We have the right pieces in place for continued growth.”
West Noble also saw a meteoric rise in its Spring IREAD-3 scores for its second graders taking the tests. In 2024, West Noble only hit a 25 percent pass rate, but jumped to 42 percent in 2025, the 17 percent increase only six percent off the state average whereas WNE was 18 percent behind a year ago.
Notables from the third grade spring stats were 46 WNE students were 100 points better than the prior year, 10 of which were 150 points , and four were 200 points better than the previous testing period. WNE's passing score was 446.