In 2013, there was a saying, “Thank God for Mississippi.” The state had long been considered the worst for education, ensuring no other state would have to rank at the bottom. Since then, they’ve managed to climb to the top spot on the Urban Institute’s demographically adjusted rankings, beating out my home state of Massachusetts, which normally ranks first place. In contrast, Oregon ranks last in that same metric. I wonder why?
Mississippi achieved this with a three-pronged approach: using national standards as guidance for instruction, using phonics as a base for reading and retaining students who fail in the third grade. Being willing to hold students back defies the current consensus, where school acts as a daycare, and students can get passed along from grade to grade. Any reading of the subreddit for teachers exposes this uncomfortable truth, and I’m glad Mississippi is standing up to solve this problem.
At any school where grades begin to slip, you can expect people at the school board meetings angrily demanding more funding. Surely a thousand more dollars per student per year will help, right? Wrong. Standards and external factors will be a million times more helpful. Take my hometown, which spends $19,210 per student per year, and compare that to Biloxi Public Schools in Mississippi, where $12,585 is spent per student per year. Biloxi has over double the amount of students proficient in both reading and math despite spending much less.
It’s pretty clear that the people who are at these board meetings want there to be a positive change; they care for their kids and want what’s best for them. A lot of stuff that helps children actually learn is done at the house, and that isn’t easy. When you look at towns like Carmel, Indiana, you’ll see that they have fantastic median household income, but also familial involvement and access to books. These are all gigantic factors in outcome, and also explain why the current path schools provide isn’t actually helpful for kids.
Right now, education is in a state of disarray, and we often see people talk about “the good schools” as an escape from the state of public education. These can include Montessori, Catholic, private and many more, but all of them tout that they have the best students. Parents who send their kid to the “good schools” without involvement are practicing a type of magical thinking. It’s patently absurd to outsource your role as a parent and hope that it’ll work out because a student is in a good school.
Mississippi has demonstrated that there’s a simple switch that can drastically help students, but until people are ready to face those uncomfortable truths, students will continue to be left behind.
Self-written bio: Ryan Hurley is an Iowa State senior majoring in Business Administration with a minor in political science. He enjoys discussion and is currently working on a cookbook.
