The “Mississippi Miracle” – the transformation of one of the country’s worst school systems into one of the best – was more of a marathon than a sprint, insiders say.
Three people involved in education in Mississippi discussed how the state changed its policies and practices over time to dramatically improve results.
“The story of Mississippi is often misunderstood,” said Robert Pondiscio, who hosted the American Enterprise Institute webinar. “It’s been called the Mississippi miracle, a phrase that’s catchy, flattering and, in my view, deeply misleading.”
Pondiscio explained that miracles “suggest sudden transformation, mysterious causes or outcomes too extraordinary to be replicated,” but Mississippi’s gains were the product of “years of policy coherence, sustained leadership, literacy reform, accountability, implementation, support and persistence over time.
“That matters, because if Mississippi’s success is a miracle, there’s little to learn from it except amazement. But if it’s a marathon, then there may be lessons here for every state willing to undertake difficult, sustained work.”
The reforms took the Magnolia State from 42nd in the nation in reading to ninth in a little more than a decade. When adjusted for poverty, “Mississippi rises even higher,” Pondiscio said.
Boosting both math and reading
Rachel Canter, one of the experts, directs education policy for the Progressive Policy Institute. She wrote a paper documenting changes over the last 20 years. Although the “Mississippi miracle” is associated with the rise in reading scores, the state has also boosted math scores as part of larger reforms.
“It’s a bigger story,” she said. The state met the national average in reading in 2019 and has exceeded it since COVID-19, a time when many states have struggled, but fourth- and eighth-grade math scores also now exceed the national average.
“If you adjust these data for our demographics, Mississippi is No. 1 in the country at both fourth- and eighth-grade math, and at fourth-grade reading, and we’re No. 4 in eighth-grade reading,” she said.
Kymyona Burk of ExcelinEd explained how the state created guidance about “who was responsible for what” and emphasized the need for agreement on a “congruous, integrated plan.”
Teacher training also played a big role.
“We have to fundamentally change how we train teachers in this country,” Burk said. “We have to do it and support them in it.”
Kelly Butler of Reading Universe said Mississippi “vetted a model that could be scaled,” saving “time and money for other states, too.”
“I think teachers are hungry now,” she said. “We made this learning very appealing to teachers. It’s the fabric of the state now and it’s sustaining growth.”
Burk said Mississippi’s success comes from moving beyond politics and not letting “anyone get away” with poor results.
“Once you see what we’ve done, you can’t unsee it,” she said. “There’s no excuse that kids are black, that kids are poor.”
Canter emphasized the success came from a “process of continuous improvement” and avoiding a “defeatist mentality.” Even with the gains, the state is raising the bar to be an A or B school district this year, she said.
“Mississippi had to take charge of its own destiny,” she said. Over the last 20 years, “we’ve just had a complete culture and mindset shift in the way that we think about education. People in Mississippi now in leadership think it’s possible for our actions to change how well kids are educated in schools and how good schools are.
“We now have this collective sense of efficacy around the fact that policy is really important, implementation is really important, and the actual work we do every day is really important for kids. And when you have that level of buy-in, even if we don’t see the outcomes we want, it means that the state’s not just going to go, ‘Well, I guess we can just stop.’”
