Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2025 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “What needs to happen next—at the state, district, and school levels—for the science of reading revolution to fulfill its promise and ensure that far more children learn to read well?” Learn more.
The workings of state education policy are hard to describe. Earlier in this series, Mike Kirst compared it to corralling a turtle. Others have compared it to a bus stuck in the mud or patching a much-loved old jalopy.
My analogy is this: State education policies are like New Year’s resolutions. We start with the best intentions, setting ambitious, concrete goals for improvement—whether it’s getting fitter or raising reading scores. Yet, more often than not, these grand plans fizzle out, leaving us right back where we started, perhaps a little more cynical about the whole endeavor.
We’ve all seen it: A new initiative rolls out, complete with shiny new textbooks and a flurry of teacher training sessions. These are the educational equivalents of buying that Peloton and attending a seminar on healthy eating. They’re good first steps, necessary even, but by themselves, they rarely lead to lasting change.
The real challenge, as many seasoned educators will tell you, isn’t just introducing new materials; it’s fundamentally changing the daily instructional habits of teachers in classrooms across an entire state. And let’s be honest, changing well-worn habits—whether personal or professional—is incredibly hard.
This is where the story of Mississippi becomes not just impressive but genuinely instructive. Through intentional state policy, they climbed from 49th to 9th on average on the NAEP fourth-grade reading test. Even more remarkably, their gains disproportionately benefit the students who historically struggle the most: They rank third for Black students, second for low-SES students, and first for both Latino and English learner students. This isn’t just an improvement; it’s a profound shift towards equity and excellence.
So how did Mississippi turn their education resolutions into a lasting success story? It wasn’t just about implementing a new curriculum or mandating professional development, though those were certainly part of it. The real secret lies in understanding that sustainable change requires continuous support and genuine accountability—much like a personal trainer, an accountability buddy, and a clear, unwavering focus on one goal at a time can help us stick to our own resolutions.
Mississippi implemented three crucial strategies that went beyond the typical “training and textbooks” approach:
First, and perhaps most uniquely, they embraced dedicated coaching. Mississippi’s State Department of Education (SDE) didn’t just outsource training; they hired and, in many cases, trained their own reading coaches. These coaches were deployed across the state, working directly with teachers and even in-district trainers. They constitute a unified network of professionals that provide consistent support, thus ensuring a more cohesive change in practice that propelled the upward trajectory.
This ongoing, on-the-ground support was specifically tailored to embed the state’s adopted literacy practices, transforming one-off workshops into sustained habit formation. Imagine having a fitness expert at your side, consistently refining your technique and keeping you motivated. That’s the power of Mississippi’s coaching model.
Second, Mississippi demonstrated unwavering leadership. In any large organization, and certainly within a state’s sprawling education system, it’s easy for initiatives to lose momentum as new priorities emerge. But in Mississippi, state leaders, including the Governor and the State Superintendent of Education, consistently hammered home the importance of the literacy initiative. They also appointed their first State Literacy Director whose sole job was to lead the charge.
This wasn’t just a talking point; it was a constant drumbeat that ensured everyone in the state’s education ecosystem understood that improving reading proficiency was the absolute top priority. This sustained focus prevented the initiative from being sidelined or forgotten, keeping it front and center in everyone’s attention.
Third, and often misunderstood, was the role of accountability. Mississippi’s third-grade retention policy, while sometimes controversial, became a powerful mechanism for ensuring adult attention and effort. It’s important to note that retention rates did not spike after the 2013 Mississippi Literacy-Based Promotion Act; retention rates had been high for a long time.
Rather, the reading retention policy became a highly visible and undeniable signal for all the adults in the system—from school administrators and teachers to parents—that student reading success was non-negotiable. This clear accountability measure created a strong incentive to focus intently on ensuring every child could read by the end of third grade. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this effect on getting adults to focus and work together.
These interwoven supports—coaching, leadership, and accountability—collectively created an environment where Mississippi’s initial good intentions could genuinely translate into new, ingrained habits for teachers and districts. Just like individuals, education systems can’t simply “will” themselves into change. They need robust, continuous support and clear consequences to foster the discipline and focus required to develop new instructional practices.
This success story points to a vital, and usually underdeveloped, role for state education agencies. They need to evolve beyond being primarily rule-enforcers and funding allocators. Instead, SDEs should embrace a more proactive and “muscular” approach. This means taking the lead in identifying the most effective instructional practices and then actively and robustly supporting districts in implementing and sustaining those practices.
The key takeaway from Mississippi is clear: Achieving sustainable, transformative change in education requires more than just mandates and resources. It demands a new mindset within state education departments, often requiring different staffing and, crucially, leaders—from governors to state superintendents—who genuinely view improving student achievement as their paramount priority. Only then can our state education policies move beyond well-intentioned resolutions to become lasting legacies of success.
