Provincial auditor Judy Ferguson released on Tuesday her findings into Grade 3 reading levels in the North East School Division.
Grade 3 is a big year for students, because it is when students make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Without a successful move, there is a greater chance students will begin falling behind.
In June 2014, the province set a goal with school boards to raise the levels of students reading at a Grade 3 level from 70 per cent to 80 per cent by 2020.
Across the province, 73 per cent of students were reading at grade level in June 2015. At the same time, only 66 per cent of North East School Division students in Grade 3 were reading at or above grade level.
That division covers about 5,000 students around Nipawin, Tisdale and Melfort.
Ferguson suggested the division document key risks and strategies related to increasing the percentage. The report also suggested evaluating the effectiveness of tools it uses to assess student reading levels and working with other school divisions to develop a framework to exempt certain students from the assessment.
Mid-year reports done in November 2015 found the number of students in Saskatchewan reading at the proper level jumped to 76 per cent.