Mississippi ranked 49th in the United States for elementary school literacy 10 years ago, when fourth graders were essentially an entire grade level behind the rest of the nation.
Fast-forward a decade and 85 percent of third graders in the Magnolia State passed the state reading assessment test in 2023, moving Mississippi up to No. 21 and showing the fastest growth in the country in reading comprehension, despite having one of the lowest per-pupil expenditure rates.
“People called it a miracle,” Kristen Wells-Wynn, literacy director for the Mississippi Department of Education, told The Epoch Times on July 3, “but we call it a marathon.”
For the coming academic year, teacher training in Mississippi will expand to higher grade levels, and other states, such as Maryland, will try to implement Mississippi’s early literacy model.
The change occurred in Mississippi when the state Education Department began switching from the “balanced literacy” reading instruction method to the “science of reading” approach. Mississippi continues to fund the initiative at a cost of about $15 million annually, according to Ms. Wells-Wynn.
Carey M. Wright, who led the change as Mississippi’s superintendent of education, took over as the head of Maryland’s Department of Education on July 1. Her first order of business will be to oversee the same transition of reading instruction in the Old-Line State.
“This initiative aims to enhance data-driven literacy standards and practices across the state, ensuring every student receives a strong foundation in literacy,” Ms. Wright said in the statement.
“Feedback from educators, families, and community members is crucial in shaping this policy to best meet the needs of our students.”
Understanding the Brain
Science of reading is an ongoing body of research that dates back 50 years, even though dozens of academic and scientific research articles are published on the topic annually, as technological and medical breakthroughs reveal new information about how the human brain processes information.Ms. Wells-Wynn said the main difference between the two approaches is which parts of the brain are triggered.
With balanced literacy, also known as the whole language approach, students are taught to develop “cues” for words, which often involves looking at pictures next to words. Through repetition, the student progresses from guessing words based on those cues to memorizing them. Reading in groups and writing activities that coincide with reading instruction are standard instruction techniques.
By contrast, science of reading emphasizes the use of phonics, allowing students to understand how the words look and sound as they acquire vocabulary and then use it to understand the meaning of paragraphs and reading passages.
Learning by memorization, Ms. Wells-Wynn said, mostly taxes the right side of the brain, which is strong with the visualization process but less equipped for deeper understanding. The left side is more capable of converting concepts into a process, such as decoding words.
“Things become automatic, as opposed to memorizing them,” she said. “You’re building the good neurocircuitry on the left side.”
The Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University identified Mississippi as the strongest national example of “return on investment” based on federal emergency relief provided to state public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other State Efforts
If Maryland implements science of reading, it will join 21 other states where this method is both required and funded. Most states that do not require the curriculum at least fund it, including California.
According to The Reading League, a nonprofit based in Syracuse, New York, that advocates the science of reading-based instruction, 60 percent of U.S. fourth graders are not reading proficiently. The organization has chapters across 33 states. Members help with teacher professional development efforts, work with district administrators to develop curriculum, and advocate wholesale reading curriculum changes at the state level.
“As states continue to implement practices aligned to the science of reading, they send a powerful message to educators, parents, and students about the state’s commitment to successful reading outcomes for all children,” Maria Murray, founder and executive director of The Reading League, said in an email to The Epoch Times.
“Maryland education leaders supported those who requested training in evidence-aligned reading instruction. That support will have a transformational impact on literacy and learning in the state.”
In California, lawmakers failed to pass a bill this year that would have required the science of reading-based curriculum in all schools, although districts can require it locally.
One of the organizations that lobbied against the California bill, English-learners advocacy group Californians Together, stated in a letter to the legislation sponsors that the curriculum does not “embrace the full range of a research-based and comprehensive approach that centrally addresses the developmental needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students.”
Busy Libraries
In Mississippi, librarians are witnessing elementary students experience the joy of reading books.Natasha Catchings of the Copiah-Jefferson Library System in Crystal Springs said that although parents might not be familiar with the science of reading, they do know that phonics is an effective technique.
Many parents, worried about the state reading test for their rising third graders, requested materials on phonics instruction. Ms. Catchings said she lends out the instructional materials for sounding out words that she used to homeschool her five children.
“And then you see more parents and guardians coming back to pick up books for their kids, and they were taking the free books, too,” she said. “Yes, there’s a lot of reading going on.”
Deborah White of the Hattiesburg Public Library noted that ever since the library reopened following the brief COVID-19-related closure in 2020, “there’s never been a lull in reading activity.”
She said about 300 children attend the summer reading program. Library employees and volunteers often ask questions during story hour or read-along activities to make sure the children comprehend what the books say. When the sessions end, the kids sprint to the book bins to pick out something to read at home.
Popular Reading Material
Tori Hopper of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library said the “decodable” books for beginning readers, which provide small doses of consonant-vowel combinations to repeat syllables through a series of 12 small booklets, are quite popular. “Vox” books, which allow users to read and listen to the words, have also been hot items lately. Both are based on the science of reading approach.
She said young readers are also taught how to turn pages in a book without ripping the paper because younger children are more likely to have spent significant time with electronic learning devices or toys before they open their first book.
Noticeable participation increases in the library’s “Reading Buddy” program, which pairs young learners with high school volunteers, are also evidence that reading instruction and enthusiasm for reading have improved in recent years, Ms. Hopper said.
Her approach is to avoid a “hard sell” of books and instead promote all that libraries have to offer. Children might come for events and games and then look at a book. Moreover, considering that so many students across the state are home-schooled, libraries aren’t in a position to promote one approach to reading instruction over another, just as they should strive to offer the broadest array of materials possible, including audiobooks and graphic novels.
“A lot of parents have hesitations, because they think it’s not really reading,” Ms. Hopper said, referring to graphic novels. “But the vocabulary is more varied because there is less space to get the information across. Yes, there are more photo cues, but there’s a strong variety of words.
“Our work is to make sure kiddos understand that reading is with them the rest of their lives.”
