The Mississippi Education Story: A Climb in the Rankings

Mississippi's journey in education has become a focal point, particularly its notable progress in recent years. This article explores the factors contributing to this shift, examining both the achievements and the questions surrounding the strategies employed.

Historical Context: From Cotton to Civil Rights

To understand Mississippi's current educational landscape, it's important to consider its history. White explorers arrived in Mississippi in 1540. The area was passed among the Spanish, British and French until the French and Indian War. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris relegated the Mississippi region to the British. The Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798, and it joined the Union as the 20th state in 1817. Through the mid-19th century, slave labor propelled Mississippi to become the top cotton producer in the country.

The Magnolia State was the second state to secede from the Union in 1861. The state’s location alongside the Mississippi River made it a strategic military location during the Civil War. The state suffered greatly during the war, losing nearly 10,000 soldiers.

The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was ratified after three-fourths of the states passed it in 1865 at the close of the war. While four others eventually passed the amendment, Mississippi did not symbolically and officially adopt it until 1995 - and didn’t officially notify Washington of the vote until 2013.

Blues music originating in the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War was rooted in African spiritual music and songs slaves sang as they worked in the fields. The state became a hub of American music traditions at the center of gospel, jazz, country and rock and roll.

Racial discrimination and segregation prevailed in Mississippi through the 20th century. Between 1915 and 1960, about 5 million African Americans left the South, including hundreds of thousands from Mississippi.

The state was a battleground during the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. In 1962, violent riots broke out on the University of Mississippi campus when James Meredith, a Black Air Force veteran, attempted to integrate the all-white state university. In 1963, he became the university’s first Black graduate.

During the Freedom Summer of 1964, Northern college students flocked to Mississippi to encourage African Americans to participate in the civil rights movement and help register them to vote. Their efforts raised awareness of discrimination in the Deep South and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Today, agriculture and forestry are top industries in Mississippi.

The "Mississippi Miracle": An Overview

Mississippi’s upward progress has made it the center of conversation in the education world over the past few years, as people consider how one of the poorest states could manage such significant jumps in statistics. The term "Mississippi Miracle" refers to the notable advancements in K-12 student performance observed in Mississippi since 2013. This progress is largely attributed to a series of policy, curriculum, and pedagogical changes implemented at the state level.

Read also: Ole Miss: A Comprehensive Overview

Climbing the Ranks: Key Achievements

Mississippi has demonstrated significant progress in education. The state’s fourth graders “exceeded the national reading average” for the first time in 2024, said the International Business Times. The state’s overall education ranking rose to 16th nationally by 2025, its “highest ever.” Mississippi’s low-income fourth graders “now perform better than those in every other state, surpassing Michigan by 17 points.”

Mississippi students have risen faster than anyone since 2013, particularly for fourth graders. In fourth grade reading results, Mississippi boosted its ranking from forty-ninth in 2013 to twenty-ninth in 2019; in math, they zoomed from fiftieth to twenty-third. This progress is reflected in improved graduation rates, which have risen to 89.2%, surpassing the national average.

Factors Behind the Turnaround

The turnaround in educational achievement has many wondering how Mississippi, with its “low education spending and high child poverty,” managed such a change, said the Times. It did not rely on common proposals such as “reducing class sizes or dramatically boosting per-student funding.” Instead, the state made sweeping policy changes, including “changing the way reading is taught,” relying on an approach known as the science of reading. It is also “embracing contentious school accountability policies other states have backed away from.”

Several key strategies have been identified as contributing to Mississippi's educational improvements:

Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA): Passed in 2013, this act focuses on early literacy and teacher development. It emphasizes phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, supported by federally funded research. The LBPA includes provisions for reading coaches, parent communication, individual reading plans, and targeted support for struggling readers.
Science of Reading: Mississippi shifted its approach to reading instruction, embracing the "science of reading." This approach emphasizes explicit instruction in phonics and other foundational reading skills.
Accountability Measures: The state implemented a system of assigning letter grades (A to F) to schools, creating a clear framework for accountability. The Department of Education also deploys literacy and mathematics coaches in low-performing elementary schools to assist educators.
High Academic Standards: In addition to adjusting reading instruction, Mississippi “raised academic standards and started giving each school a letter grade, A to F,” said the Times.
Ending Social Promotion: This progress would not have been possible without ending social promotion and implementing the so-called “third-grade gate.”
Third Grade Gate: Students repeat the third grade if they fail to meet reading standards.

The Role of the "Third-Grade Gate"

One of the most discussed and debated aspects of Mississippi's reforms is the "third-grade gate," which requires students to meet reading standards to advance to the fourth grade.

Read also: Best Colleges in MS

Retention Rates: Mississippi has a higher retention rate than many other states. In 2018-19, according to state department of education reports, 8 percent of all Mississippi K-3 students were held back (up from 6.6 percent the prior year).
Impact of Retention: Research suggests that grade retention explains only a portion of the treatment effect. Adopting an early literacy policy improves elementary students’ reading achievement on important student assessments, with third grade retention and instructional support substantially enhancing English learners’ skills.
Arguments Against Retention: Critics tend to take aim at retention for two reasons: First, it can be an emotional issue for families to find out their child needs to repeat a grade. Critics have alleged that Mississippi’s outcomes are a “statistical illusion,” because of the percentage of students retained by the third-grade gate.

Questioning the "Miracle": Alternative Explanations

While Mississippi's progress is undeniable, some experts urge caution in attributing it solely to the implemented reforms.

Testing Changes: In 2015, Mississippi overhauled its state test, including by aligning it more closely with NAEP. Testing experts say that focusing on the content of a particular exam might improve scores because educators teach to that specific test.
Statistical Illusions: First, he argued that by holding back struggling third-graders, the state had inflated its test scores by removing those students from the pool of fourth grade test-takers. In reality, this could help explain test scores jumps for a short period of time, but it doesn’t make much sense for longer-term gains. Eventually, students who are retained in early grades will move up to the next grade - they are not held back forever. Because Mississippi has seen sustained improvements, retention gaming appears to be an unlikely explanation.
National Trends: Scores gradually increased for both from 1990 to 2015. But then the scores began to decline nationally whereas they continued to increase for Mississippi. Why? It is hard to credit Mississippi’s 2013 LBPA as the cause since there does not appear to be any change in Mississippi’s continued improvement. Yet viewed in the context of the national decline, perhaps LBPA deserves some credit.

Additional Factors

Mississippi's approach includes several key components:

Early Screening: Schools began to screen students at a young age for issues in literacy so that they would be able to have access to specialized services that would help them catch up and achieve mastery. Schools were given direction on how to best address the needs and gaps detected by all this testing.
Individualized Reading Plans: Each struggling child receives an Individualized Reading Plan, which is crafted by a joint effort of parents and teachers.
Teacher Training: One was the a priori sensible idea of trying to improve classroom instruction by improved teacher training, instituting preschool, and a variety of other helpful actions.

Lingering Challenges and Future Directions

Despite the gains in education, Mississippi continues to face significant challenges in other areas of child well-being.

Child Well-being

Mississippi ranks 48th overall in child well-being, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. While Mississippi ranks last in health, it has risen to 16th in education. Child poverty has decreased, but high rates of low birth weights and child/teen deaths remain critical issues. A new national ranking places Mississippi at 48th best for kids. While some areas have shown improvement, the state is listed among a shortlist of those facing the greatest challenges.

Health Outcomes

Health outcomes continue to be a major challenge in Mississippi. The state ranks last overall. It's also 50th in the death rates for children and teens and the percent of babies with low birth weights. According to CFM, the state has ranked last in low birth weights for a long time, "the causes of which can be linked to a lack of or inadequate prenatal care, few birthing hospital options, and a lack of health insurance."

Next Steps

Mississippi is intensifying its efforts, with the education department planning to request $9 million from state lawmakers this year to “expand literacy coaching beyond the early elementary grades,” the Times said. Other states have “gone in the opposite direction” by “backing off accountability and lowering proficiency standards, sometimes in the name of equity.” Still, a handful of states, including Louisiana and Alabama, are “seeing promising results using a similar set of strategies as Mississippi.”

tags: #mississippi #education #ranking #statistics