{"id":2526,"date":"2020-02-24T16:34:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T16:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/?p=2526"},"modified":"2024-10-15T22:02:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:02:04","slug":"mississippi-misfortunes-and-where-to-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/2020\/02\/24\/mississippi-misfortunes-and-where-to-rebuild\/","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi Misfortunes and Where to Rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Magnolia state has had its fair share of woes. Coming in\nnear the bottom of the barrel in education standings, the highest poverty rate\nin the United States, the lowest labor participation rate (56% to be exact<\/a>), and\none of the lowest median incomes, coming in at $23,121. This is just to name a\nfew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet there is hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My visit to the capitol of Mississippi this past week leads\nme to believe that in education, we may be on the cusp of a new era of\nmeaningful reform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, we have seen a recent uptick in fourth grade\nreading scores, where Mississippi improved its position from forty-ninth in\n2013 to twenty-ninth in 2019 based on National Assessment of Educational\nProgress (NAEP) scores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a significant improvement.  But more importantly, many in the state seem\naware of the educational shortcomings and are open to change.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our conversations mainly focused on three items: The expansion\nof education choices, pursuing policy changes to the Districts of Innovation\nLaw (passed in 2015), and the establishment of an educational leadership\ninstitute. The Districts of Innovation law is a key component to achieving an\neducational leadership institute, as it allows the superintendent of a district\nto apply for \u201cinnovation status\u201d to the Mississippi Department of Education. If\naccepted, the district is then given freedom to innovate under the guidance of the\nsuperintendent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A particularly notable example of educational innovation (though\nnot with some controversy) is that of Corinth, Mississippi. Lee Childress,\nsuperintendent of Corinth school district has been a transformative leader. The\ndistrict now uses the more challenging Cambridge model of curriculum instead of\nthe state\u2019s model, they have changed the school calendar to year-round, created\nseven different diplomas, are fourth in the state in graduation rates at 94.8%,\nand increased ACT test scores to one point higher than the state average. This\nis a testament to the positive changes that can take place with an education\nleader who is a change agent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we continue to work with play makers in Mississippi, efforts will focus on shifting the policy surrounding Districts of Innovation and laying the groundwork for a new kind of leadership institute for education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting small and recognizing this effort will take time are keys to success. Only a well-developed plan will begin to \u201cmove the mountain.\u201d We believe we have that plan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Magnolia state has had its fair share of woes. Coming in near the bottom of the barrel in education standings, the highest poverty rate in the United States, the lowest labor participation rate (56% to be exact), and one of the lowest median incomes, coming in at $23,121. This is just to name a few. Yet there is hope. My visit to the capitol of Mississippi this past week leads me to believe that in education, we may be on the cusp of a new era of meaningful reform. For example, we have seen a recent uptick in fourth grade reading scores, where Mississippi improved its position from forty-ninth in 2013 to twenty-ninth in 2019 based on National Assessment Read More ›<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":343,"featured_media":2528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1062],"class_list":["post-2526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-policy","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"author_names":["Bailey Takacs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2526"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2526"}],"wp:action-assign-author":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discovery.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post\/2526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}