What Southern Red States Offer on Reading and Attendance

A ray of hope is emerging in American education, not from national politics or the stalled reform movement but from three Deep South states: Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. These states, long marked by child poverty, racism and low school spending, are registering surprising gains.

Louisiana ranks No. 1 in recovery from pandemic losses in reading and Alabama No. 1 in math recovery; Alabama also has the lowest chronic absenteeism. Mississippi now ranks ninth in fourth-grade reading overall, and after adjusting for demographics it ranks No.

1 while Louisiana is No. 2. With the same adjustment, Mississippi is No. 1 in both fourth- and eighth-grade math, and Black fourth graders in Mississippi read better on average than those in Massachusetts. Many critics scoffed when I wrote about Mississippi in 2023, arguing the gains might fade, be the result of cheating, or simply reflect holding back weak readers.

United States, Deep South

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