Mississippi Miracle coming to MD

 Mississippi Miracle not so Miraculous

 

Remember the Mississippi Miracle of 2013? Through this heavily invested Science of Reading program, Mississippi 4^th graders moved from 49^th in the nation to the top 10!  The program included coaches in the public schools and every elementary school being on board.  Mississippi is notoriously a poor state.  If Mississippi could achieve this miracle why couldn’t other states.  Indeed, many other southern states jumped on Board.

Cathy Wright was the Mississippi State Superintendent at the time.   Now she is the State Superintendent in Maryland and seeks to repeat the miracle here.  She is pushing for funding.

The Miracle requires that ALL elementary teachers teach reading via the Science of Reading, a program that leans heavily into phonics.  It also employs coaches to go into classrooms to make sure teachers are “doing it correctly”.  Additionally, children who are not successful are required to repeat the 3^rdgrade. In Maryland, parents will have an option of children going onto 4th grade with additional tutoring and summer school.  Not clear what happens if the Science of Reading still isn't working. 

The big question is:  Is reading the art of translating the written letters on paper into sounds that make up words?  Or is reading the art of getting meaning and comprehension from those words.  

Turns out the Miracle may not be so miraculous after all.  Everyone has heard the aphorism, “First we learn to read; then we read to learn.”  Turns out the Science of Reading is not so great on the second part.  While it was wonderful that 4^th grade scores rose; 8^th grade scores did not.  In fact, the scores of 8^th graders in 2021 were actually slightly lower than 8^th grade scores before the Miracle.

Then there is also the Miracle by Manipulation.  Since 3^rd graders who didn’t make the grade, stayed in the 3^rd grade, the 4^th graders who were measured were the successful kids.  The others had been left behind in more ways than one.

Dr. Wright is hard at work convincing the State Board and the legislature that she can transport that Miracle to Maryland.  Hope someone is looking to see just how long lasting that Miracle is.