Don’t call it a ‘miracle’: Mississippi academic gains were fueled by decades of groundwork

“Dive Brief: Mississippi’s marked improvement in achievement in the early grades, which has seen the state rise from the bottom to at or above the national average in National Assessment of Educational Progress rankings for 4th grade math and reading, should not be labeled a “miracle” as it took nearly two decades of groundwork, according to a report released in April by the Progressive Policy Institute. While the state’s use of science of reading approaches certainly had an impact on improved scores, a range of other factors have played a role — including consequences for low performance, evidence-informed instruction, implementation support, and other reforms, according to the “ Inside the Mississippi Marathon , ” report authored by Rachel Canter, director of education policy at PPI. “This is a story of systems alignment through policy as much as it is a story of literacy in particular,” said Canter, who was closely involved in the state's improvement process as founder and executive director of the nonprofit Mississippi First. “I wanted people to understand the full picture. Because, I thought, people are picking and choosing the things they like about the Mississippi story and making that thing they like about it the ‘be-all and end-all.’ If you only do that one thing, you’re not going to get the outcome you want.” Dive Insight: While there’s growing evidence and consensus that the science of reading approach pays dividends, simply writing it into state law doesn’t guarantee that it will be used in every classroom, and more focus is needed on what happens beyond that specific implementation, Canter said. Over time, U.S. state education policy has swung from mandating accountability for results but staying out of specific curricula to mandating curricula without enforcing accountability, she said. “And I think both of those extremes are wrong,” Canter said. “We have to have a clear understanding about what we want students to learn and what that looks like, and be held accountable to it." Canter said educators need the resources and supports to do this work. "Mississippi did systems alignment work; that work is really difficult. A lot more difficult than, quote-unquote, sending a coach into the classroom. And coaches did not go into every single classroom; they were targeted to the lowest-performing schools,” Canter said. In addition, she said, discussions about the science of reading often focus narrowly on the phonics aspect, and teaching decoding is certainly important, but other ingredients include vocabulary, language acquisition, reading comprehension and background knowledge, which become increasingly important in the middle grades. And, Canter noted, Mississippi hasn’t had as much success in lifting 8th grade reading NAEP scores and just this year passed legislation focused on adolescent literacy . “We have figured out how to do K-to-3 well. We have to think about how to sustain those gains in grades 4-to-8,” she said. “To do that, we have to think about things like, what is their knowledge of science and social studies, and the way things work in the world?” That includes questions like the breadht of a student’s vocabulary and how well they can appl language when reading a passage, she added. “If we continue to have a conversation that’s only about K-to-3, we’re going to continue to struggle to see outcomes in 4-to-8,” Canter said, adding that for educators in other states, the lesson learned is that “you shouldn’t spend 10 years just focused on K-to-3.” Mississippi also has seen “huge gains” in math scores on NAEP that’s continued into the middle grades, despite only adopting a similarly comprehensive policy in math this year, by leaning into standards, assessment and accountability, Canter said. The expectations for developing math skills have risen greatly in the past 20 years, she said. “it’s a radical difference,” she said. “We expect kids to know more math and at earlier grade levels and at a deeper level.” Overall, Canter believes state and district educators have raised their expectations and attained a greater sense of efficacy than they had previously. “We didn’t have that mindset about learning,” she said. “We thought, ‘The kids are going to fall where they may because of the population of students.’ There’s been a radical shift in the belief structure, that policy and good choices can drive student achievement.”

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