Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is acknowledged]
Throughout my career I’ve heard many say that you cannot increase student achievement without addressing child poverty, hunger, and related factors such as teen pregnancy. I think addressing hunger, poverty, and teen pregnancy are essential, but I do not think addressing them is a precondition for increasing student achievement.
It appears that substantial improvement in student achievement and outcomes is possible on a system-wide basis. Nicholas Kristof, in his May, New York Times opinion piece, discussed the transformation of Mississippi's education system, which has significantly improved from being at the lowest level to reaching the middle and then the top position when adjusted for demographics. The achievement was realized through a strong emphasis on reading proficiency by the third grade, using research-based methods and metrics to improve outcomes.
Despite being ranked last in child poverty and hunger and second in teen births, Mississippi has successfully improved reading and math scores, and high school graduation rates. The improvements have been achieved in collaboration with teachers and their unions.
The achievement is linked to several key factors, including a $100 million donation from former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and his wife to establish a reading institute in Jackson. The institute helped implement a focus on measurable outcomes and cost-effective strategies. Other strategies involved an emphasis on phonics and literacy, teacher professional development, investment in pre-K programs, and a "third-grade gate" policy that requires students to pass a reading test at the end of third grade or repeat the year. To keep students in school, officials visited students who had dropped out due to economic hardships and helped them to arrange flexible work schedules with their employers.
Mississippi's public school system has made noticeable improvements despite substantial socio-economic challenges and a history of school segregation. If Mississippi can make such remarkable system-wide improvement, systems elsewhere should also be able to do so. The central elements in Mississippi are ones that can be implemented in other state and provincial systems: measurable goals and metrics; cost-effective, research-based methods such as phonics instruction; productive collaboration with teacher unions; and focused professional learning for teachers.
Careful readers will note that I did not mention the "third-grade gate" policy that requires students to pass a reading test at the end of third grade or repeat the year. My reason for omitting it as a central element is that grade repetition is not supported by evidence.[1] I am, nevertheless, open to changing my perspective based on an examination of the evidence from Mississippi.
Mississippi’s success shows that it is possible to increase student achievement without addressing child poverty, hunger, and teen pregnancy. Of course, that doesn’t mean we should not also be making efforts to reduce – if not eliminate them.
[1] Jimerson, S. R. (2001). Meta-analysis of grade retention research:
Implications for practice in the 21st century. School Psychology Review,
30, 420–437.