Mississippi model merits closer scrutiny

I read in the April 1 Journal another reference to the fact that Mississippi has made great strides in the reading scores of its fourth graders. However, whenever this sound bite is articulated, the facts behind it are never presented.

By investigating Mississippi’s decadelong journey, you will find that there are good ideas they implemented, and New Mexico can benefit from studying and implementing some of those.

Mississippi has implemented a policy to hold back their third graders if they are not proficient in reading. Mississippi must now double their educational funding for teaching those third graders, teachers now must double their efforts to teach reading, and third graders are allowed two years to master their third grade reading skills.

When they move on to the fourth grade and take the standardized test, they “magically” do better than ever. But there’s absolutely no magic involved. There is, however, commitment from the teachers, school board, taxpayers, parents, and yes, from the students themselves to accomplish this.

Mississippi also has made other changes, like changing their testing regimen. If you change the test, you will change the results.

Holding a student back has its detractors, and requiring and funding additional education days in New Mexico has always been a struggle. Until we’re ready to inject major changes into our education system, we won’t achieve major improvements.

PAMELA WALKER Albuquerque