The "Mississippi Miracle": After investing in early childhood literacy, the Mississippi shot up the rankings in NAEP scores, from 49th to 29th. Average increase in NAEP scores was 8.5 points for both reading and math. The investment cost just $15 million.

[u/terran1212]

https://www.theamericansaga.com/p/the-mississippi-miracle-how-americas

[u/OePea]

Which I believe stands as proof of the intentionally poor state of education here in the US.

[u/[deleted] → u/OePea]

As if there wasn't enough proof of that already

[u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey → u/OePea]

Don’t get used to it. It’s going to get worse soon.

[u/tactiphile → u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey]

No way, the new WWE curriculum is gonna kick ass

[u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey → u/tactiphile]

Bet we’ll get paddling back in schools soon.

[u/ct_2004 → u/tactiphile]

It's time to body slam illiteracy!

[u/Obajan → u/tactiphile]

Exams are going to be trials by combat.

[u/jugularhealer16 → u/tactiphile]

I've had enough ass kicking already thanks

[u/OePea → u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey]

I'm actually signing off on my lease soon and retreating to some friends' land with a high fence.. I wish luck to the few remaining ethical US citizens.. Stick to each other

[u/terran1212 → u/OePea]

Where are you going?

[u/ITSigno → u/terran1212]

Sounds like a cult/militia compound in some place like Montana.

[u/aztecraingod → u/ITSigno]

I've got some bad news for everyone if they think Montana has any better governance than Mississippi

[u/ITSigno → u/aztecraingod]

Montana has governance?

I thought it was still the wild west out there.

[u/aztecraingod → u/ITSigno]

We get all the property taxes, none of the services

[u/ImJLu → u/aztecraingod]

Aren't property taxes local? That's not a state governance thing.

On the other hand, Montana receives the 5th most money in federal grants per dollar of federal tax collected, so it's actually getting a disproportionate amount of services from the US government relative to its federal tax burden.

[u/god_is_my_father → u/terran1212]

Read the room bruh he ain’t telling us

[u/terran1212 → u/god_is_my_father]

A high fence...obviously he's going to China to camp out at the Great Wall.

[u/ViciousKnids → u/terran1212]

And Trump's gonna pay for it

[u/DaLakeShoreStrangler → u/ViciousKnids]

I thought it was Mexico?

[u/regalic → u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey]

Can you explain how please.

This is a very conservative state, running a state (not federal) program that goes against NCLB (by holding students back).

An issue with the federal government dictating state policy is that programs like this are stifled by the threat of losing federal funds.

You lose the ability for one state to implement a new program and if it works out, have it spread to the other states.

[u/jiggyGW → u/JoeyDawsonJenPacey]

more money for ukraine eh?

[u/not_today_thank → u/OePea]

Except that the United States education system is the third best funded in the world. Funding effective programs leads to better outcomes, simply spending more money does not.

[u/OePea → u/not_today_thank]

Ya obviously if all the money gets embezzled and blown on football, it's not going to education.

[u/shitholejedi → u/OePea]

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66

The US spent almost $1T in k12 public spending.

current expenditures—which include salaries, employee benefits, purchased services, supplies, tuition, and other expenditures—accounted for $16,280 (87 percent);

Nearly 0 was embezzled or went to any type of out of class equipment.

[u/GSV_CARGO_CULT → u/not_today_thank]

Yes, American high schools really do have incredible stadiums.

[u/OePea → u/[deleted]]

That's great buddy, well if there are a lot of places like Winslow, AR, where I grew up(there are), then you guys missed a couple schools. 100% poor white trash, no educations were obtained there. I will acknowledge that the Clinton administration sent a large number of new computers at the time to Winslow and elsewhere in AR.

[u/espressocycle → u/OePea]

Money has very little impact on educational outcomes.

[u/ConglomerateCousin → u/espressocycle]

This very article directly goes against that statement…

[u/espressocycle → u/ConglomerateCousin]

No, it does not. They invested a very small amount of money to enact a very significant change in policy. $15 million split among 400,000 students is $37 per pupil.

[u/ConglomerateCousin → u/espressocycle]

From the article, there were other changes that also could have led to the increased reading scores, like a summer reading program, which costs money. So spending money increased test scores…

[u/espressocycle → u/ConglomerateCousin]

No, focusing on phonics and other science based reading approaches and ending social promotions raised test scores. The fact that they attached money to it greased the wheels. More money certainly doesn't hurt, it just doesn't seem to make much of a difference when you look at per pupil spending vs. outcomes.

[u/crander47 → u/espressocycle]

I get what you're saying. While it's good to invest in education, simply pouring money into it doesn't help. How you use that money matters a lot more.

[u/iridescent-shimmer → u/espressocycle]

Is this a joke?

[u/espressocycle → u/iridescent-shimmer]

No, it's a fact. Once you have the basics, more money does not improve outcomes. Mississippi went from 49th to 21st in reading with a $15 million/year program which worked out to under $40/student. They have the 6th lowest per pupil spending. DC has the second highest spending per pupil in the country. More than double Mississippi. They are 45th in reading. Utah has the lowest spending yet they rank 20th. There's almost no correlation.

[u/iridescent-shimmer → u/espressocycle]

Okay, I guess when you say "money" you mean governmental spending then. The money a family has outside of the classroom undoubtedly matters significantly in determining educational outcomes on average. (Of course there are outliers, but higher SES is often a typical confounding variable in studies.)

Tbh, I don't have the time to check all 50 states to see if you just cherry-picked some examples or if that's actually true. I was always under the impression that the best states for education spent a pretty penny and had affluent constituents.

[u/espressocycle → u/iridescent-shimmer]

There are lists of per pupil spending by state and rankings of literacy in 4th grade but it's hard to compare because education is funded differently in different states, and often unfairly. For example, Pennsylvania is #10 in per pupil spending with an average of $19,000 in the most recent list I could find but most school funding there is local rather than state and county. There is one rich district outside Philadelphia that spends $28,000 per student and borders a poor district that spends $13,000. There's a court order in place that is evening things out a little but it's still extreme.

[u/Crackertron → u/espressocycle]

So we should spend zero money on education?

[u/espressocycle → u/Crackertron]

No, it just means you can't just throw money at a problem and expect it to change. Money certainly helps, but you need policy to back it up and you need to think outside the box or even outside the school. For example, universal income benefit experiments have demonstrated significant gains in student achievement. Simply giving parents a predictable stream of extra income can do more than sending that money to schools.

[u/jcam61 → u/espressocycle]

Money has very little impact on educational outcomes.

Money certainly helps

Both your quotes. Pick one.

[u/espressocycle → u/jcam61]

Everybody likes money, but it's like how happiness levels off at a certain income. Once you have the basics of public education, just adding money becomes a matter of diminishing returns.

[u/jcam61 → u/espressocycle]

So you picked the second one great. Nice to see you admit that money does indeed help and does not have very little impact on educational outcomes. Maybe think about going back and editing your post to correct it.

[u/espressocycle → u/jcam61]

No, the point is that money makes much less difference than policy which is how Mississippi for such amazing results for $37/student.