Mississippi rising: Look South for progress in reading achievement

Southern states are on the rise.

Mississippi is "the fastest-improving school system in the country," writes Tim Daly on The Free Press. Why aren't educators rushing to the Delta to see how it's done?

In 2003, Mississippi was worst in the nation, next to Washington, D.C., for fourth-grade reading on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), Daly writes. Now, Mississippi ranks fifth. "When the Urban Institute adjusted national test results for student demographics, Mississippi ranked first in fourth-grade reading and math, fourth in eighth-grade reading and first in math.

Black students in dirt-poor, low-spending Mississippi outperform black students elsewhere by large margins, Daly writes. "The average black student in Mississippi performed about 1.5 grade levels ahead of the average black student in Wisconsin," which "spends about 35 percent more per pupil."

The success of Mississippi and other Southern states "have been dutifully and perfunctorily name-checked in news stories," Daly writes, but he sees "a reluctance among national voices to extol Deep South examples as worthy of emulation."

In The Southern Surge, Karen Vaites looks at how Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama have improved reading outcomes by improving teacher training and curriculum, plus other reforms. Each state took a somewhat different approach, but made comprehensive reforms and stuck with it. These states didn't launch significant math initiatives, but math scores went up too.

"All four states are in the bottom half for per-pupil spending, and Mississippi and Tennessee are in the bottom 10," she writes. But they managed to invest more in teacher training and curriculum over five to 15-year periods. "The memo to states is to channel dollars towards specific and proven initiatives, not just district budgets."

In addition, the surge reminds us not to "accept poverty as an excuse," Vaites concludes. "Mississippi and Louisiana have the highest childhood poverty rates in the nation, and Alabama and Tennessee are #6 and #11, respectively."

The four-state surge has been "under-explored" in the national media, Vaites tells Alexander Russo on Kappan. She wonders if it's the complexity of the issue, the bias toward negative news or the politics. Like Daly, she fears some don't want to hear good news from red states.

Chad Aldeman also writes about what other states should learn from Mississippi.

I remember when Finland was doing well on international tests, and U.S. educators were eager to fly to Finland to admire its schools. (Singapore always aces these tests, but it doesn't get the field trips.) Finland Mania fizzled out, writes Daly, when the scores hit the skids.