(A version of this column was published by the Topeka Capital-Journal)
Mississippi’s remarkable improvement in reading scores is often called the Mississippi Miracle, but it’s not a miracle. It’s just a healthy dose of common sense combined with a determination to educate students. Unfortunately, both are in short supply in the Kansas Legislature.
Consider what has taken place since 2013 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP):
- 4th-grade reading proficiency (all students) jumped from 21% to 32% in Mississippi, but fell from 38% to 28% in Kansas.
- The portion of 4th-graders Below Basic in Mississippi went from about half to one-third, while soaring from 29% to 40% in Kansas.
- Mississippi’s four-score composite (4th grade and 8th grade for economically disadvantaged students and those who are not disadvantaged) improved from a #49 ranking to #5, while Kansas dropped from #23 to #41.
It wasn’t money that sparked the turnaround. Adjusted for the cost of living, Mississippi schools consistently spent thousands of dollars less per student than Kansas schools.
The Mississippi turnaround occurred because legislators dared to put students first with commonsense accountability reforms. In contrast, Republicans and Democrats in Kansas were intimidated by education administrators and lobbyists. Legislators witnessed precipitous achievement declines on the state assessment, ACT, and NAEP, but fearing backlash that might interfere with their #1 priority – getting re-elected – they repeatedly dodged votes out of self-interest.
Multiple sources tell us some legislators ran for leadership positions, promising protection from voting on education issues.
Student-focused legislation prompted the Mississippi Miracle
While many Kansas legislators hid from responsibility, Mississippi implemented a series of changes starting with the 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act. An article published by The74 says, “That law funded the state department of education to hire, train and deploy literacy coaches to the 50 lowest-performing schools. It also required schools to administer universal screenings to identify students with reading deficiencies early and to communicate those results to parents, and it required schools to hold back students who were not reaching a certain threshold by third grade.”
Reading at grade level when starting the fourth grade is critically important. Students learn to read in their first three years, and thereafter, they read to learn. There is a very low chance of catching up if they don’t enter the fourth grade reading at grade level.
A 2013 attempt to pass a similar third-grade reading initiative in Kansas did not get out of committee because the Kansas Association of School Boards and teacher unions said holding kids back would make them feel bad. Placing a higher priority on appeasing the education lobby than educating students, legislators let the bill die without a vote.
The Mississippi Legislature also implemented an A-F grading system in 2013, assigning each school a letter grade to reflect performance and improvement on state assessment tests. Modeled after the Florida Legislature’s pioneering effort, $100 per student goes to Mississippi schools that improve a letter grade or maintain an “A” for teacher bonuses.
The Kansas Legislature wouldn’t consider an A-F grading system for schools, so Kansas Policy Institute created one in 2017.
Kansas State Board of Education is part of the problem
The Kansas Legislature could and should intervene on students’ behalf, but the State Board of Education is the primary barrier preventing students from getting the education they deserve.
The current and prior State Boards of Education shirked their legal and moral obligations for many years. ACT college readiness plummeted from 32% in 2015 to 18% last year. State assessment results also collapsed; now, only a third of students are proficient in reading and math, and almost as many are below grade level.
State law requires the State Board of Education to have a school accreditation system based on academic improvement, yet neither the current system nor the proposed new one requires improvement in student outcomes. School districts are supposed to comply with state law to remain accredited, but state school board members won’t enforce it. Two state audits, in 2019 and 2023, determined that school districts are not spending state at-risk funding on “above and beyond services” for students academically at risk of failure as required in state law.
Mississippi students are lucky to have legislators and education administrators with the courage to act and get them the education they deserve. Students in Kansas deserve nothing less.
