Leading for Literacy: Is the "Mississippi Miracle" Real?

If you pay attention to research and commentary on literacy, you’ve likely heard of the Mississippi Miracle. Over the past two decades, the state has made remarkable gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in fourth-grade reading. That has led to some well-deserved attention—and, unfortunately, to many incomplete summaries of what (supposedly) worked. Are the gains real? Yes. But there’s no miracle. Just sustained hard work on multiple fronts.

We read lots of reports and articles to better understand what has driven improvements in Mississippi; here, we offer the most thoughtful explanations we could find. While three of the four sources we highlight feature Mississippians who did the work, we start with a helpful overview from an outsider with decades of research and classroom experience: Linda Darling-Hammond, the chief knowledge officer at the Learning Policy Institute. 

Darling-Hammond’s perspective is helpful because she grounds her analysis in comparisons with other states and well-established bodies of research. Instead of being dazzled by Mississippi’s growth and potentially misled as to how it might be replicated, she identifies core practices that are crucial for supporting literacy statewide. And somehow, she does all this in a not-too-long blog post (with lots of links to more in-depth resources): “Improving Student Achievement: What Red and Blue States Are Doing Right.” Describing the commonalities among high-performing states, Darling-Hammond focuses on their relatively high and equitable (compared with other states) funding for public schools along with instructional investments in everything from strong curricula to health and social services for children. She then examines the changes Mississippi has made regarding funding and instruction, finding it has followed a similar path. Summing up, she writes, “the states that have built lasting educational success—whether Massachusetts in the 1990s or Mississippi today—have done so through patient, systemic investment in schools and in the people who work in them. They invested in schools based on student needs; prepared and supported teachers seriously; and built coherent instructional systems rather than chasing singular reforms.”

For an overview of Mississippi’s complex set of strategies, an episode of The Harvard EdCast, “What Mississippi Got Right About Reading,” provides a high-level look at the policy work—including sustained support for teachers—that was needed not for a “miracle” but for an ongoing “marathon.” That’s how Kymyona Burk describes the work she led for six years. A former elementary reading teacher in Mississippi, Burk served as the Mississippi Department of Education’s literacy director and was responsible for implementing the state’s Literacy-Based Promotion Act. While many commentators have focused on this act because it requires third-graders to be retained if they don’t pass the state’s English language arts assessment, Burk focuses on the many added resources and instructional interventions that were provided to prevent retention. She also explains the importance of sustained support beyond annual funding from the governor, lieutenant governor, and legislators. 

For a deep dive, turn to Inside the Mississippi Marathon by Rachel Canter. Canter, a former teacher who founded Mississippi First (a nonprofit dedicated to educational excellence) in 2008, worked with legislators and the state’s education department for 17 years. In her view:

Rather than a single policy or person, Mississippi’s successful transformation rested on four pillars, all of which were variations on a central theme: holding ourselves accountable for higher expectations. These policy pillars were 1) standards, testing, and accountability, 2) consequences for poor performance, 3) evidence-informed instructional policy, and 4) support for implementation.

As Canter notes, echoing Darling-Hammond, nothing about this is new. It is working because people throughout the state are persisting. Not chasing the latest educational fad. Not giving up on children or their teachers.

And, for the perspectives of two educators—one in the classroom and the other providing professional development—who were part of Mississippi’s literacy transformation, see “Reading Universe: How Two Decades of Innovation in Mississippi Is Now Empowering Families and Educators Everywhere” in the Fall 2023 issue of American Educator. Erika Bryant, a first-grade teacher in Jackson, and Kelly Butler, a senior advisor at the state and local levels, highlight vital classroom-level supports, such as in-depth professional development on the science of reading, dedicated reading coaches to demonstrate instructional practices, and various ways to engage families in helping their children learn to read.

AFT Recommits to 
Reading Instruction

The AFT is committed to advocating for educators throughout the United States to receive the type of in-depth professional development and sustained coaching and support that Mississippi educators have been immersed in for several years. By directly offering resources—from articles to professional development—and by negotiating literacy provisions in collective bargaining agreements, the AFT is standing up for the genuine opportunities to become strong readers that children deserve and for the resources that teachers need. While the AFT has been immersed in this work for many years, at our national convention in July, delegates passed a resolution clarifying the type of multifaceted instruction children need and how our union would fight for it. For details, see “Recommitting to Early Reading Instruction and Support.” 

–EDITORS

[Photo credit: RORY DOYLE / The New York Times / Redux]