“What Mississippi Did to Improve Reading—and Why Illinois Should Pay Attention”
“Mississippi shows that significant improvement is possible. From 2013 to 2019, Mississippi’s fourth-grade NAEP reading score rose 10 points—the largest gain of any state—and by 2019 its performance had reached the national average. The state achieved these gains by focusing on early literacy, evidence-based instruction, teacher training, literacy coaches, targeted intervention and accountability.” https://www.mississippifirst.org/literacy-series-part-1/
Illinois has a reading crisis, and every year we soften the language, another class of children falls further behind.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education, only 36.5% of Illinois students were proficient in English Language Arts in 2025—meaning nearly two out of every three students were not proficient. That number should stop every policymaker, school board member, and parent in their tracks. Reading is not a luxury skill. It is the key to every other subject, every future job, and every chance a child has to speak, think, and learn with confidence.
As a teacher with 30 years in the classroom, including 19 years teaching literacy, I have seen what works. Teaching a child to read is hard work, but it is not a mystery. Children need clear instruction, practice, correction, and time with text. Teachers need training that matches the science of reading. Schools need accountability for results.
What they do not need is another wave of paperwork, another revolving set of textbooks, or another test that takes time away from teaching.
Illinois must be honest about the problem
A system that leaves nearly three out of four students below grade level in reading and writing is not working well enough. Good intentions do not change that. More meetings do not change that. New slogans do not change that.
The first step is honesty.
Illinois has many devoted teachers. It has families who care deeply. It has students who are capable of far more than the current results show. The failure is not with the children. The failure is with a system that too often buries the basics under mandates, shifting priorities, and programs that come and go before teachers can master them.
Students need strong instruction in:
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Writing practice
These are not trends. They are the building blocks of literacy. When schools treat them as optional, children pay the price.
The basics work when adults protect them
In the classroom, reading growth often comes from steady, direct instruction. A child learns the sounds. Then the letters. Then how letters form words. Then how words make meaning. The teacher listens, corrects, models, and repeats.
That is not flashy, but it works.
Too often, teachers are pulled away from that work. They must learn a new assessment system, adjust to a new curriculum, complete more reports, attend more compliance training, and prepare students for another round of testing. Some of those tasks may have a place, but they cannot become the center of the school day.
The center must be the student learning to read.
Teachers need fewer distractions and better tools. They need training in proven literacy methods, not constant change for the sake of change. They need principals and district leaders who protect reading time. They need state leaders who measure progress clearly and act when schools fall short.
Mississippi showed that change is possible
Mississippi offers a lesson Illinois should study closely. For years, Mississippi ranked near the bottom in literacy outcomes. Then the state made reading a clear priority. It focused on early literacy, teacher training, reading coaches, screening, and accountability.
Over time, Mississippi’s results improved enough that the state became known nationally for its reading comeback. In roughly 13 years, it went from being viewed as one of the weakest states in reading to one of the strongest examples of progress.
That did not happen because Mississippi found a magic program. It happened because state leaders, schools, and teachers focused on what mattered and stayed with it.
What actually drove Mississippi's improvement?
The evidence suggests it was not one policy. The major components were:
Early identification of reading difficulties
Phonics and evidence-based reading instruction
Extensive teacher training
Literacy coaches working directly with teachers
Targeted intervention for struggling readers
High-quality instructional materials
Parent communication and involvement
A third-grade reading benchmark/retention policy
Ongoing assessment to identify students who need additional help National Center for Education Statistics
Illinois can follow Mississippi's Literacy Comeback and do the same. The lesson is simple: pick a proven path, commit to it, train people well, and hold the system responsible for whether children learn.
More money alone will not solve this
Whenever education results lag, the first demand is often more funding. Schools do need adequate resources. Teachers need materials that work. Students need safe classrooms and enough trained adults to support them.
But endless new funding without accountability will not fix reading.
Illinois has spent years adding initiatives, programs, and rules. Too many of them ask teachers to do more without removing anything from their plates. A stronger system would ask a sharper question: Does this help a child read, write, and think better?
If the answer is no, it should not crowd the school day.
Accountability should not mean blaming teachers for every problem. It should mean setting clear expectations for the whole system. State leaders, district offices, curriculum vendors, administrators, and schools should all answer for results.
Bureaucracy cannot be the priority
Schools often speak the language of student success while building systems that serve adults first. Layers of approval, reporting, vendor contracts, and changing mandates can make it harder for teachers to focus on instruction.
That must change.
A classroom teacher should not have to sort through conflicting guidance every year. Families should not have to guess whether their child is truly reading on grade level. Students should not wait until middle school for adults to admit they missed the foundation in first, second, or third grade.
The priority has to be children, not bureaucracy.
That means Illinois should stop chasing every new education fashion and return to disciplined reading instruction. It means keeping what works long enough to see results. It means treating literacy as the civil rights issue it is, because a child who cannot read well is locked out of too much of life.
Illinois can choose a better path
The path forward is not complicated, but it will take courage.
Illinois should study states that have improved reading results and apply the lessons with seriousness. Mississippi’s comeback shows that low performance does not have to be permanent. It also shows that change requires focus. Leaders cannot claim literacy is urgent while adding more distractions to the school day.
A better path would put teachers and students first in every decision:
Give teachers strong training in the science of reading
Use materials that match proven instruction
Identify struggling readers early
Intervene quickly and consistently
Report results honestly
Hold leaders accountable for progress
None of this requires pretending the work is easy. It requires admitting that the current approach is failing too many children and that excuses will not teach them to read.
Illinois children deserve schools that teach the basics well and refuse to give up on them. They deser
ve adults who care more about results than programs, more about instruction than paperwork, and more about students than systems.
The state does not need another excuse. It needs a literacy comeback. Mississippi proved it can be done. Laurie has the experience to help lead educational policies that help our children.
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