In education circles it’s known as the “Mississippi Miracle.” As recently as 2013, Mississippi ranked 49th in the country for education, which seemed predictable for a state with low education spending and one of the nation’s highest child poverty rates. But today, Mississippi is a top 10 state for fourth graders learning how to read, and one of the best places in the country for a poor child to get an education, according to a New York Times article.
The most common explanation for Mississippi’s progress — changing the way it teaches reading to young children — is only part of the story. The state holds schools accountable for student test scores and offers teachers more support.
Mississippi state government plays a strong role in telling schools what to do — in a country that emphasizes local control of education.
In 2013, Mississippi embraced the “science of reading.” Teachers use phonics and other direct methods such as explicitly teaching vocabulary.
The state also raised academic standards and started giving every school a letter grade.
In place of demanding proficiency, as under No Child Left Behind, Mississippi has emphasized student growth toward proficiency. Schools get credit when students improve and double credit for the improvement of their lowest-scoring students. Every school, rich or poor, has an incentive to help everyone.
The state also approves a list of curriculums used by most districts, instead of leaving decisions to individual school districts.
Another difference from No Child Left Behind: Mississippi doesn’t just punish schools that are struggling, it also takes a proactive role in helping them.
For example, the state’s literacy coaches are sent into the elementary schools that have the lowest reading scores each year, with a mission to teach teachers, not children. Coaches are there to mentor, not to blame bad teachers.
One criticism of Mississippi’s approach is that it revolves around standardized testing. At an elementary school in Hazlehurst, a rural area south of Jackson where more than half of children live in poverty, students take tests every two weeks, a greater frequency than even the state recommends.
A New York Times reporter saw preschoolers sounding out letters into toy telephones, and second graders coaching one another on how to sound out words like “disappointment.” One 10-year-old told the reporter about the satisfaction he feels from learning: “If I make a bad grade but I’m going up, it’s like a staircase.”
Can Mississippi keep going in the face of declining test scores nationally? At Hazlehurst, scores have climbed to 35 percent of students reading on grade level, compared with 12 percent a decade ago. “No miracle, but real progress,” writes the reporter.
The New York Times
