It's a marathon, not a miracle

Call it the "Mississippi Marathon," writes Rachel Canter in The Atlantic. States are trying to raise reading scores by requiring schools to adopt the "science of reading." But aligning instruction with research on how children learn to read (it's not just phonics) is only part of how Mississippi went from worst to first (adjusted for poverty) in the nation in fourth-grade reading and math, she writes. Accountability was the key to her home state's transformation, she concludes in a new Progressive Policy Institute report.

As founder of the education nonprofit Mississippi First, Canter saw her home state start getting serious about meeting higher expectations in 2008. That change included state power to take over low-performing districts, A-F grades for schools and districts based on student achievement and challenging new learning standards.

The state's literacy law passed in 2013: Schools screen students' reading skills three times a year and report progress to parents. Students can't read adequately by the end of third grade are held back a year. The law meant "everyone in the system would be in a hellfire hurry to teach children to read," writes Canter. "No one wanted children to fail."

Under a new superintendent, the state education department took the lead in implementing the literacy law.

Canter worries that other states want a "miracle" without standards and accountability. Michigan went wobbly on third-grade retention. Georgia's effort "went sideways, in part because the state failed to carefully select the tests that screen children for reading skills and difficulties."

California's new law lets school districts choose curricula that's not on the state's recommended list, and requires screening in K-2 for reading problems but not parental notification, Canter writes. "encourages school districts to select science-of-reading curricula from a state-approved list — but it also allows them to self-certify that their materials meet state standards," she writes. There's "no statewide retention policy" to motivate teachers and students.