An Education Success Story
Posted on: Jan 11, 2026 18:34 IST | Posted by: Nytimes
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We convey you some goodness news about schools in a place you might not expect.
As recently as 2013, Mississippi ranked 49th in the country for education. Its standing seemed predictable, even inevitable, for a state with low education spending and one of the nation’s highest child poverty rates.
Today, though, Mississippi is a top 10 state for fourth graders learning how to read, and one of the best places in the country for a poor child to get an education.
Mississippi’s turnaround has been the talk of the education world over the last few years. Its success has generated awe but also skepticism. After all, it is notoriously difficult to improve schools at scale. Could the “Mississippi miracle,” as some have called it, be real?
I traveled to Mississippi last month to see for myself.
What I found is that the most common explanation for Mississippi’s progress — changing the way it teaches reading to young children — is only part of the story. The state has also held schools accountable for student test scores, an approach that fell out of favor nationally after No Child Left Behind, the maligned Bush-era education law. And it has offered teachers more support.
In other words, in a country that prizes local control of education, Mississippi takes an unusually strong role in telling schools what to do.
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