Chasing Mississippi

Are Oklahoma lawmakers really ready for what it takes to reform schools?

Oklahoma leaders are looking to Mississippi for answers to the state’s poor academic outcomes. But, many are picking and choosing what they like instead of considering the whole suite of reforms made in the past decade.

For too long, Oklahomans joked that if it weren’t for Mississippi, we’d be last in education. In 2013, Mississippi got tired of the laughing.

Its lawmakers passed a series of bills that bolstered the ranks of teachers and pumped millions more dollars into classrooms that brought it from 49th in NAEP (known as the Nation’s Report Card) scores in the nation to 21st within a decade. It was a massive shift in public policy, infrastructure and investment that required new thinking among Mississippi residents. A primer on this turnabout was written by Anne Wicks of the George W. Bush Institute two years ago.

Mississippi avoided national headlines that politicized public schools and instead got real about finding common ground and goals.

What did Oklahoma do during this time?

Lawmakers were in the middle of a series of consistent revenue failures after cutting taxes too far during earlier boom years. That meant teachers went a decade without a pay increase. Educators fled the profession or left for higher wages in other states, resulting in emergency certified teachers statewide going from 32 in 2011 to about 5,000 last year. A teacher walkout in 2018 provided temporary relief in boosting teacher pay, but lawmakers haven’t kept up.

The only reforms passed provided $250 million in tax credits to private school students and lowered teacher standards by creating adjuncts, who are not required to have any college credits or teaching experience.

Former State Superintendent Ryan Walters mismanaged more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds, disrespected and threatened teachers, mandated his brand of Christianity be taught in schools, quietly changed the pass scores on state tests so more students would be considered proficient - giving the illusion of higher academic achievement. When lawmakers - including 22 House Republicans - sought investigations into Walters, the leadership declined, including then-House Speaker Charles McCall.

The amount of damage a disingenuous person can do in elected office in a short amount of time is staggering. So, where is Oklahoma at now?

The 2024 Oklahoma NAEP scores put fourth-grade reading at 47th nationally and 48th in eighth-grade reading. For math proficiency, fourth graders are at 44th and eighth graders at 45th. The scores have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

Oklahoma ranks last in per pupil spending for the 7-state region and in the bottom five nationally. A teacher shortage reported about a decade ago slid into a crisis that is now an embarrassment.

The state’s public schools are ranked 50th out of 51 (including the District of Columbia) in a WalletHub analysis. Oklahoma ranks 49th out of 50 in Kids Count report, 48th out of 50 by U.S. News and World Report, and 48th out of 51 by World Population Review.

Schools don’t exist in vacuums. They are affected by other systems and outside social influences. School performance was harmed by the implosion of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services by putting behavioral care even further out-of-reach for families. The state ranks in the top five for hunger, yet Gov. Kevin Stitt turned down the federal Summer EBT program for child nutrition two years in a row. The list could go on.

The poor school outcomes should not surprise anyone living in Oklahoma. The descent to last has been well-reported and documented by media and education advocates.

All this plays into how a child arrives for school. Reversing that means dropping the partisan divides and culture wars and focusing on what’s best for children where they live - within their culture and traditions.

There is no time travel, so all Oklahomans can do now is move forward and hopefully learn from past mistakes.

Mississippi marathon

Interim State Superintendent Lindel Fields says he’s focused on literacy, teacher recruitment/retention and career pathways. He’s repeatedly said he is not interested in running for the office next year. His goal is to figure out how to undo what Walters did and hand off an agency ready to move forward.

The Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce a few of weeks ago unveiled its reforms. If there is one consistent in Oklahoma education reform, it’s that every non-educator has ideas on how to reform education.

The state chamber has referenced Mississippi’s transformation as a model, focusing on literacy and third-grade retention if proficiency hasn’t been reached. The “Mississippi Miracle” has become a talking point in many corners, particularly among conservatives.

Fields hasn’t commented directly on the chamber reforms but is aware of what he calls the “Mississippi marathon.” He rightly points out Mississippi engaged in a decade-long heavy lift that involved complex policy shifts and significant financial investments.

Mississippi didn’t perform a miracle. Improving its schools wasn’t magic. The state shifted its priorities, leaned into evidence-based teaching and paid for it.

“If you want to replicate it, you have to fully replicate it if you want similar results,” Fields said.

In 2011, four out of five Mississippi fourth graders scored below proficiency on NAEP. In 2013, lawmakers passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act addressed literacy through a series of screenings, early identification and interventions when failing behind reading in early ages. This aspect costs the state $15 million a year. However, this was bolstered by a $100 million donation by Jim and Sally Barksdale to create the Barksdale Reading Institute in 2000 at the University of Mississippi to work with its state education department to laser-focus in on k-4th grade NAEP scores.

Here are some highlights of what Mississippi did:

• Mississippi’s third grade reading retention isn’t just holding a student back who doesn’t hit a mark on a test. That’s a last resort. Delayed readers are identified as early as kindergarten and provided interventions well before third grade. Multiple opportunities are provide to demonstrate sufficient reading for promotion. The state has “good cause exemptions” for special needs student and English Language Learners. Only about 22% of Mississippi’s improvements are attributed to this part of the reforms, according to an analysis in The Conversation. The other 78% is attributed to other aspects.

• Free, full-day pre-K programs were expanded. Oklahoma is ahead of the game on this point, being one of the first states to offer voluntary, universal pre-K. But, the classrooms need certified teachers in early ed for this to be effective.

• Literacy screenings are given three times a year for k-3rd grade students. For those with screenings falling below grade level, they receive an “individual reading plan” to get caught up. These plans have formal methods to engage parents.

• The “literacy coaches” hired by schools to work individually with students are highly trained reading specialists, well-versed in the five core components of reading as identified by the National Reading Panel—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. They also have experience working with academically struggling students.

• The state provides k-3rd grade general education teachers and k-8th special education teachers a year-long, master’s level professional development course centered on the “science of reading.” Oklahoma has emphasized this approach, but the teacher recruitment and retention has made developing this type of quality in the educator ranks difficult.

• Testing, standards and accountability are aligned with NAEP.

• Eventually, the state added math coaches in a similar way as the literacy interventions.

Oklahoma spends $11,349 per student and has nearly 700,000 public school students enrolled across a little more than 500 districts. Mississippi spends $12,394 per student with about 458,000 public school students across 150 districts.

Oklahoma and Mississippi have about the same percentage of students on Individual Education Programs (IEPS), at 16% and 15% respectively. There is a bigger difference in English Language Learners with 13% in Oklahoma and about 3% in Mississippi.

Those differences will make a difference when wanting to replicate reforms.

Thoughts of teachers

In the many Oklahoma education forums, panels and discussions, what’s typically missing on the stage are classroom teachers. But, their opinions aren’t hard to find.

On social media, many are providing testimonials for what they experiences and explanations for what they need. None are disagreeing that literacy is a foundational skill or the Mississippi interventions wouldn’t be welcomed. But, they say there are some things that must be addressed first, or at least alongside.

Discipline and class behavior. Oklahoma has among the highest rates of mental health and addiction rates along with top rankings of people with multiple adverse childhood experiences, called ACES. The consequences show up in schools. Students may be dealing with parents in the middle of a crisis or have unmet/undiagnosed disorders. Schools need options for students who are not thriving in traditional classrooms. Sending students back to class isn’t working, especially for kids showing violent behavior. They need alternative classrooms and/or interventions to be successful.

Lower classroom sizes. When classrooms reach over 25 students, it can be too much to handle. High performing kids get bored, and low-performing kids don’t get enough attention. To make more manageable classes, schools need to hire more qualified teachers. This goes back to Oklahoma’s staffing shortage.

Respect for teachers. The job of educators has gotten difficult as politicians use them as targets in culture wars. Walters weaponized his office to strip teachers of their professions based on political ideology. Even before him, Oklahoma lawmakers have been reluctant to pay educators higher wages. It’s not coincidence that at least 30,000 certified teachers are opting not to teach. They have chosen to leave the profession. These are qualified, college-educated and trained educators who the state desperately needs back. It may be worth finding ways to lure them back until the pipeline can be rebuilt.

If Oklahoma leaders are serious about turning around the state’s academic outcomes in similar dramatic fashion as Mississippi, they need to be serious about investing in families and schools. They can’t pick-and-choose what they like in reforms based on their own desires and hunches. They need to include classroom teachers and take their input seriously.

Oklahoma can accomplish great things, but it’s going to take a lot more effort and funding than what lawmakers and leaders have been willing to do.