Can we learn Mississippi and Alabama?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not closing schools for Covid anyone?

Had zero to do with it. They structured kids for daily intensive leveled reading instruction basically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alabama and Mississippi have two of the worst ranked schools in the country.

NP. But they have made great strides in reading using science of reading based instruction.

Your response is exactly what the OP asked people NOT to do.

Well OP is a moron.

Alabama and Mississippi are poised to allow The Heritage Foundation curriculum to become state wide.

Well, like I said in my original post, I am a liberal, so I suppose that goes hand in hand these days with being a moron. But thank you for your post! Shows me more and more how entrenched we liberals are with our righteous attitudes towards EVERYTHING, including education. We have all the answers, right? IF EVERYONE WOULD JUST EDUCATE THEMSELVES, THEY WOULD UNDERSTAND JUST HOW RIGHT WE ARE!!!!! WHY CAN'T THEY DO THAT!?!?!?! ARRRGHH!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Those school systems have posted gains in elementary reading and math proficiency by a 'return to basics' model including intensive outreach and refusal to advance children who don't meet 3rd grade standards on an end of year assessment. These are important considerations for any school district, but to my knowledge, they haven't yet impacted high school graduation rates in those states (which are still far behind the DC metro area). Also, the cost of implementing those same types of staffing and supports in this region would be met with massive public resistance (sadly).

[Anonymous]

The people discounting MS and AL are missing the incredible work they’ve done.
We need higher quality educational materials, adoption of science backed literacy strategies, and a real measure of proficiency— the higher cut scores for proficiency tests that are on the horizon are good news IMHO.

And for the record- I’m a liberal who deeply believes in the importance of public schools and has two kids in elementary. If we don’t fix the quality of public education it’s going to become a race to the bottom with parents who can opt out increasingly doing so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those school systems have posted gains in elementary reading and math proficiency by a 'return to basics' model including intensive outreach and refusal to advance children who don't meet 3rd grade standards on an end of year assessment. These are important considerations for any school district, but to my knowledge, they haven't yet impacted high school graduation rates in those states (which are still far behind the DC metro area). Also, the cost of implementing those same types of staffing and supports in this region would be met with massive public resistance (sadly).

The easiest way to boost high school graduation rates is to mail every eighteen year old a diploma. Yay! Now they all have high school diplomas! Education has been fixed.

Please reconsider your metrics for success.

Anyway, Mississippi has mostly been leveraging existing resources; while it is definitely cheaper to hire and less costly to build, they are also much much poorer. Therefore, many of the reforms they've made are more administratively difficult than pricey to implement. The state got deeply involved in the nitty gritty of the curricula taught by their education schools, put science of reading questions on the licensure exam, etc.

[Anonymous]

They’ve done a great job.

But when you start with incredibly low student scores it’s easy to show significant progress.

Compare actual scores, not growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people discounting MS and AL are missing the incredible work they’ve done.
We need higher quality educational materials, adoption of science backed literacy strategies, and a real measure of proficiency— the higher cut scores for proficiency tests that are on the horizon are good news IMHO.

And for the record- I’m a liberal who deeply believes in the importance of public schools and has two kids in elementary. If we don’t fix the quality of public education it’s going to become a race to the bottom with parents who can opt out increasingly doing so.

That was your tell, “liberal”.

Higher cut scores, mid-cycle, without any additional supports are not “good news” for our kids. Just RWNJs manipulating data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

Hope this finds its way to the email inbox of every APS employee at Central, not to mention every principal. Very interesting read. I'm a liberal. But I hate how we think we're just smarter than everyone else. So, before someone comes in and points out flaws in these reports or exaggerations about the gains being made in these shockingly poor communities, how about we take a step back and applaud the work being done by the teachers and the communities at large down there. Shows what is possible, even on a low budget.

Why?
Why these schools?
Why now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’ve done a great job.

But when you start with incredibly low student scores it’s easy to show significant progress.

Compare actual scores, not growth.

Plus it is harder to learn and new language and learn to read in that new language. Both of those states have low ESL levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people discounting MS and AL are missing the incredible work they’ve done.
We need higher quality educational materials, adoption of science backed literacy strategies, and a real measure of proficiency— the higher cut scores for proficiency tests that are on the horizon are good news IMHO.

And for the record- I’m a liberal who deeply believes in the importance of public schools and has two kids in elementary. If we don’t fix the quality of public education it’s going to become a race to the bottom with parents who can opt out increasingly doing so.

That was your tell, “liberal”.

Higher cut scores, mid-cycle, without any additional supports are not “good news” for our kids. Just RWNJs manipulating data.

I’m not going to fight with an internet stranger who questions my politics (but can also almost promise I’ve spent more time working to support democratic politics than you). If you don’t see there are a growing number of parents who are dissatisfied with the state of public education and feel lied to by schools who say kids are performing well when many indicators (NAEP among them) suggest otherwise, you are blind to reality. We can’t solve a problem we refuse to acknowledge. High standards— along with yes, the supports for teachers— are imperative.
It isn’t just a “oh, these states are improving because they came from a low baseline”. MS is 9th nationally in 4th grade reading, far ahead of VA which is 30th. I’ve seen families in our neighborhood increasingly opt out of public school, and it worries me. A strong public education system is vital, and we shouldn’t be too proud to learn from anyone who is doing it better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people discounting MS and AL are missing the incredible work they’ve done.
We need higher quality educational materials, adoption of science backed literacy strategies, and a real measure of proficiency— the higher cut scores for proficiency tests that are on the horizon are good news IMHO.

And for the record- I’m a liberal who deeply believes in the importance of public schools and has two kids in elementary. If we don’t fix the quality of public education it’s going to become a race to the bottom with parents who can opt out increasingly doing so.

That was your tell, “liberal”.

Higher cut scores, mid-cycle, without any additional supports are not “good news” for our kids. Just RWNJs manipulating data.

I’m not going to fight with an internet stranger who questions my politics (but can also almost promise I’ve spent more time working to support democratic politics than you). If you don’t see there are a growing number of parents who are dissatisfied with the state of public education and feel lied to by schools who say kids are performing well when many indicators (NAEP among them) suggest otherwise, you are blind to reality. We can’t solve a problem we refuse to acknowledge. High standards— along with yes, the supports for teachers— are imperative.
It isn’t just a “oh, these states are improving because they came from a low baseline”. MS is 9th nationally in 4th grade reading, far ahead of VA which is 30th. I’ve seen families in our neighborhood increasingly opt out of public school, and it worries me. A strong public education system is vital, and we shouldn’t be too proud to learn from anyone who is doing it better.

100% the bolded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’ve done a great job.

But when you start with incredibly low student scores it’s easy to show significant progress.

Compare actual scores, not growth.

Actual scores now are better than MD and VA. See separate thread in General Education forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people discounting MS and AL are missing the incredible work they’ve done.
We need higher quality educational materials, adoption of science backed literacy strategies, and a real measure of proficiency— the higher cut scores for proficiency tests that are on the horizon are good news IMHO.

And for the record- I’m a liberal who deeply believes in the importance of public schools and has two kids in elementary. If we don’t fix the quality of public education it’s going to become a race to the bottom with parents who can opt out increasingly doing so.

That was your tell, “liberal”.

Higher cut scores, mid-cycle, without any additional supports are not “good news” for our kids. Just RWNJs manipulating data.

I’m not going to fight with an internet stranger who questions my politics (but can also almost promise I’ve spent more time working to support democratic politics than you). If you don’t see there are a growing number of parents who are dissatisfied with the state of public education and feel lied to by schools who say kids are performing well when many indicators (NAEP among them) suggest otherwise, you are blind to reality. We can’t solve a problem we refuse to acknowledge. High standards— along with yes, the supports for teachers— are imperative.
It isn’t just a “oh, these states are improving because they came from a low baseline”. MS is 9th nationally in 4th grade reading, far ahead of VA which is 30th. I’ve seen families in our neighborhood increasingly opt out of public school, and it worries me. A strong public education system is vital, and we shouldn’t be too proud to learn from anyone who is doing it better.

Smells like a Youngkin voter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

Hope this finds its way to the email inbox of every APS employee at Central, not to mention every principal. Very interesting read. I'm a liberal. But I hate how we think we're just smarter than everyone else. So, before someone comes in and points out flaws in these reports or exaggerations about the gains being made in these shockingly poor communities, how about we take a step back and applaud the work being done by the teachers and the communities at large down there. Shows what is possible, even on a low budget.

Who calls it “Central”?

Outside agitators…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’ve done a great job.

But when you start with incredibly low student scores it’s easy to show significant progress.

Compare actual scores, not growth.

This. Not every kid in MS and AL is starting at below the basement level. I'd argue that most of them aren't. Most kids have a subpar education experience. I know because I was one.