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“In 2013, the year the LBPA passed the legislature, the state ranked 49th in fourth grade reading achievement (as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress). In 2019, the state had achieved the rank of 29th in the country.

“And according to new research published in Economics of Education Review, the LBPA was part of why the state saw this success.”

In 2012, for the first time since its Redemption by Democrats circa 1876, the Mississippi state government was controlled entirely by Republicans.

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And I have to suspect we can go even further. I have to believe that some schools and districts showed even more progress than the impressive average gains. For that matter, why not look at the data at the classroom level? "Best practices" are something that we can learn if we are willing to try.

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Why would you think that? The overwhelming majority of high-quality research in education shows that pedagogical and administrative interventions have no real impact on student scores, which are dominantly the product of their genetic endowment.

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Great to see such policies working. There are many low cost policies that should be enacted - 'free school lunches' is another one that has major payoffs with limited cost. Pairing this along with other such policies results in significant returns to everyone.

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Excellent podcast series about teaching kids to read, how things got so far off track and what's happening to course correct:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sold-a-story/id1649580473

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Teaching reading IS rocket science! You’d probably be surprised at the number of teachers who have no idea about how to teach phonics, or cannot discuss the research behind how students learn (think Marzano).

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All teachers at the elementary and secondary levels need to accept that they may teacher other subjects, but they are ALL reading teachers. Good to read something positive about teaching!

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Zaid, are there any measurable knock on benefits the State of Mississippi has also gained such as improved health, economics, increase in trade and/or college enrollment? Great to see the literacy rates increase due to smart State bill 1 decade ago.

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The first cohort of kids who went through the new system are becoming adults now, so that's something we may see over time.

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This is exactly, exactly, exactly what happened in Texas - the Texas Miracle - which led to directly to No Child Left Behind. And in the end, as was inevitable, it turned out that Texas was manufacturing selection bias and the gains were an illusion. That's precisely what will happen here, if anyone is ever brave enough to find the misconduct.

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