Surge in reading scores, called a “Mississippi Miracle,” happened by returning to phonics and phonetic instruction.
By Eileen Griffin
The state of Mississippi established a goal for all children to read by the third grade.
Mississippi schools raised student performance to become one of the top-ranked school systems in the nation, The Epoch Times reports.
Historically, Mississippi has had one of the worst-performing public school systems in the country. Even though the state continues to be ranked at the bottom for poverty, hunger, and teen births, students have found success in academic performance.
Elementary students in the state now rank near the top overall. Those specifically identified as living in poverty are tied for the best performance in reading and second place for math.
After so many years of coming in last in test scores, the state legislature passed a law in 2013 called the Literacy-Based Promotions Act (LBPA). The law required the Office of Elementary Education and Reading to focus on bringing children to grade level in literacy, particularly in grades 1-3.
The law required that students who fail to read at the third-grade level upon completion of the school year not be advanced to the fourth grade.
After a 2016 amendment to LBPA, expectations were raised again for students and literacy coaches were added to the budget.
Reading scores of Mississippi students have been gradually improving since 2013, ExcelinEd reported in 2019. In 2013, only 21 percent of all Mississippi fourth graders could read at a level of proficiency. By 2017, 27 percent could read competently.
Other states are looking to Mississippi to replicate the “miracle” for their schools. Cited as one of critical drivers of success is the use of “the science of reading,” otherwise known as phonics.
Teachers in Mississippi have transitioned away from “balanced literacy” to the “science of reading” approach, The Epoch Times reports.
Balanced literacy, frequently referred to as the “whole language” approach, relies on cues and guesswork as students look at pictures and attempt to determine the word. The expectation is that students eventually recognize the words and commit them to memory.
Phonics, in contrast, teaches children to sound out and decode words. They look at each letter and learn the sound that goes with it.
Teachers relied on phonics up until the 1960s, when reading instruction began adopting the whole language approach. In the 1980s, balanced literacy became the innovative approach to reading, Science News reported. By 2019, 72 percent of early elementary education and special education teachers said they were using balanced literacy to teach reading in their schools.
In the 1990s, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development put together a panel of experts to determine the best method to teach reading. The results indicated the importance of the use of phonics.
The top two factors in reading success were phonics and phonemic awareness. A better grasp on phonics was shown to lead to greater academic success later in life. Children who learned phonics performed better on reading, spelling, and comprehension.
Several studies over the course of many years have confirmed the benefits of phonics. The value of the teaching method is easily observed by comparing states. Mississippi made the most significant improvement in test scores when it embraced phonics. California lost ground when it abandoned phonics.
When California replaced phonics with whole language in the 1980s, fourth graders placed last in the country in reading. California went back to phonics in the 1990s and regained ground quickly.
“Despite the evidence that children learn to read best when given systematic phonics along with other key components of a literacy program, many schools and teacher-training programs either ignore the science, apply it inconsistently or mix conflicting approaches that could hinder proficiency,” Emily Sohn wrote for Science News.
Whole language has been embraced because it fits the Left’s preferred approach to education, The Federalist reported. Teachers have been trained to use a “student-centered” approach where lessons are fun and engaging. Students are allowed to work independently at their own pace, and teachers do not have to struggle with the discipline and rigor of phonics.
Lacking strong reading skills has long term implications for society, yet teachers are still using whole language in schools across the country.
“People who can’t read well are less likely than others to vote or read the news or secure employment,” Sohn wrote.
“Most teachers will revert back to what they were trained to do and find any way to make lessons on phonics something they’re not, mixing in other concepts and skills to better adhere to their progressive pedagogy,” Auguste Meyrat wrote for The Federalist.
The Mississippi miracle belies the excuse many educators have used for years that children who come from low-income households cannot perform at the same level as other students.
“Poverty is no excuse for keeping kids in underperforming schools,” writes John Seiler for The Epoch Times. “Rather, getting K-12 education right is the path to pulling more kids out of poverty.”
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