“Thank God for Mississippi.”
That’s been a standard refrain from officials used to defend their states’ national education rankings. The South in general has been a punching bag for those who wouldn’t own up to their own deficiencies.
Well, they can’t say that anymore.
Mississippi, which at one time was ranked 49th in fourth-grade reading, skyrocketed to 21st last year, the Associated Press reported. And things are also looking up in Louisiana and Alabama.,
There have been promising gains for low-income students in particular. In 2019, Alabama ranked 49th in National Assessment of Education Progress reading scores for low-income fourth graders and in 2022 it ranked 27th. Louisiana went from 42nd to 11th. Mississippi ranks second-highest in the country, after Florida.
How did this happen? Mississippi has struggled for years with poverty and very low literacy rates. Then in 2013 the state passed much-needed legislation modeled after a 2002 Florida law that helped that state record some of the nation’s highest reading scores, the AP said.
Here are some of the things they did:
*Trained thousands of teachers in the “science of reading,” which refers to the most proven, research-backed methods of teaching reading – such as phonics. Mississippi requires every K-3 teacher, elementary principal, and assistant principal to take a 55-hour training course.
*Sent literary coaches to help teachers implement that training, especially in low-performing schools.
*Aimed to catch problems early by screening for signs of reading deficiencies or dyslexia as early as kindergarten, informing parents if a problem was found, and providing those children extra support.
*Established consequences if schools don’t teach kids how to read, while also offering help to keep kids on track.
Kelly Butler, CEO of the Barksdale Institute, an influential organization in literacy policy in the state, summed it up succinctly when she said, “We know how to teach reading. We just have to do it everywhere.”
Louisiana and Alabama have passed similar laws, and Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia are among states that have recently adopted some of the same policies, AP reported.
Among other initiatives, Mississippi holds students back in third grade if they can’t pass a reading test, but it also gives them multiple chances to pass after intensive tutoring and summer literacy camps. Alabama sent over 30,000 struggling readers to summer literacy camps last year.
You can read the AP story on the PBS website here.
Some are calling what’s going on in Mississippi a “miracle,” but it’s not. It’s a matter of seriously addressing a problem with a solid plan and a commitment, particularly to kids who are struggling. It’s a matter of investing in children. In their future, which is really our future.
These states deserve a huge amount of credit for tackling the problem, but if you’re paying attention Republican-controlled states continue to do harm to their educational systems with their conservative-based policies. Things like banning books, trying to diminish the LGBTQ community, and falsely claiming that critical race theory has become part of their curriculums and in turn trying to limit any honest presentation of the issue of race in this country.
This is where Democratic-controlled states have an opportunity to distinguish themselves from their GOP counterparts. How about the slogan: “Pennsylvania, We Teach History Here.”
The losers in bad education policies are, of course, the children. We must develop a nationwide approach based on facts -- not politics -- and a commitment to provide all kids with the opportunity of a good education. This includes the holistic approach of making sure they have adequate health care, enough to eat, and a safe place to live.
Yes, poverty is definitely a factor here. Remember that when the Republicans try to cut the social safety net and the domino effect that will have.
Eric Mackey, Alabama’s state superintendent of education, said, “We have to break that cycle of generational poverty. One of the best ways to do that is to make multiple generations of readers. This is something that we have to be in for the long haul.”
He’s right. There’s no quick fix or magic formula. There’s no soundbite or political cliché that’s adequate in this effort. It’s a big job, and it will cost a lot of money, but the cause is much more noble and the reward will be far greater than cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, again.
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Thank you for reading my post. You can see more of my writing on my blog: Musings of a Nobody.