Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to an unlikely role model to improve literacy rates in the commonwealth: Mississippi.
For the past several years, the state of Mississippi has been recognized by educational leaders for the unusual success it has had helping its youngest students learn to read, despite having high rates of poverty and relatively low levels of education spending.
Pennsylvania needs inspiration after Pennsylvania politicians passed regulations last year that will require schools and districts to adopt evidence-backed reading curriculums by 2027. Dozens of other states passed similar legislation” after a series of stories by APM Reports in 2022 found schools across the country were not following best practices on “the science of reading.”
But questions remain about what Pennsylvania needs to do to match Mississippi’s results – and how feasible these results are. Education experts who spoke at a Senate policy committee hearing Monday agreed that follow-through and implementation will be key – but there wasn’t consensus on what that should look like.
Sen. Dave Argall, Republican chair of the committee, said most public policy improvements are slow. He wants to know whether what is happening in Mississippi is different.
“What I’m reading in the New York Times yesterday on this new way of helping teachers help our students to learn to read is more revolutionary than incremental,” he said. “Is this new way of learning truly revolutionary?”
The New York Times story, which was cited several times during Monday’s hearing by lawmakers and educators, highlighted several key features of the “Mississippi miracle”:
Adoption of “science of reading” curriculums that include phonics instruction.Holding back students who don’t pass their state reading test in 3rd grade for another year.State control over which literacy curriculums local districts can adopt.Ongoing support from literacy experts to teach teachers at struggling schools.Accountability on standardized tests, including grading schools on a scale from F – A.Incentives for making improvements among the bottom 25% of students.Increased capacity at the state education department, including a literacy coordinator.
“Mississippi didn’t just know the research, they built the systems, the structures, the training, the leadership capacity and the accountability needed to live it every single day,” testified Candace Hall, a board member at the International Dyslexia Foundation, at Monday’s hearing.
The suite of policies in Mississippi is appealing to conservatives, because it comes from a state that spends less on education, has weak teachers’ unions and doesn’t require a massive financial investment. But it also emphasizes liberal ideas like stronger state control over local control over local education matters.
Sen. Dave Argall wants to know whether the reading skill improvements in Mississippi can be replicated in Pennsylvania.Courtesy image
“We also want to honor Pennsylvania’s tradition of local control,” Hall said. “But with that comes the state’s responsibility to provide guardrails that ensure every child receives high quality instruction, no matter the zip code.”
The policy is popular among some liberals because it focuses on the growth of all students, no matter the circumstances they have come from. Mississippi has been particularly effective at raising test scores for the most disadvantaged children in one of the highest poverty states in the country. But the policies emphasize accountability to a larger degree than adding resources.
“I unfortunately regularly visit classrooms with unopened boxes shrink wrapped of brand new materials because the teachers weren’t given any time to learn the new curriculum that their district paid for,” testified Kendall LaPora, a research associate with the nonprofit Research for Action.”
Despite the focus on Mississippi’s unusual success, several speakers at Monday’s hearing championed more traditional liberal and conservative talking points that Pennsylvania. either needs more resources for its schools or needs more school choices for parents.
Rachel Langan, an education policy analyst at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, said she didn’t think individual programs could lead to lasting change and that, instead, lawmakers should focus on the conservative education priorities: vouchers and tax credits that would fund children at whatever school their parents want to send them to.
“Curriculum reforms and efforts to improve literacy are necessary and commendable, but they are not enough to produce steady improvement in academic achievement,” Langan said.
Some of the other speakers at Monday’s hearing focused on areas they work in, such as early childhood literacy, adult literacy and regional intermediate units that support schools.
Donna Gafney, the director of organizational learning and professional development for Montgomery County’s intermediate unit, said state leaders should continue to invest in early childhood education, invest in ongoing professional development and to leverage organizations like hers, that are focused on providing professional development. Intermediate units, she said, “are built to be the scalable bridge connecting policy to real consistent classroom impact.”
Toward the end of the meeting the chairman, Argall, said that future efforts by Pennsylvania may need to focus more on accountability.
“So far Pennsylvania has only adopted part of the Mississippi model,” he said. “It seems like we’ve done more of the carrot and less of the stick. And so the New York Times article yesterday seemed to argue that you gotta do the whole thing.”