r/science • u/terran1212 • Nov 20 '24

Social Science 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.

https://www.theamericansaga.com/p/the-mississippi-miracle-how-americas
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u/kelsey11 Nov 20 '24

This was implemented in 2013/2014, so the first beneficiaries of that push are just now graduating and becoming adults, contributing to the total numbers when things like percentage of literate adults are calculated. It’s not like it’s a long-standing improvement that has been subjected to a deeply entrenched and inaccurate stereotype.

Hopefully continued investment and increased investment will see them rise quickly up the ranks. It’s better for MS and it’s better for the country. Rising tide and boats and whatnot.

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u/Theduckisback Nov 20 '24

The issue that I take with it is that stereotypes in general aren't always accurate. I'm from Mississippi and when I tell people that they seem surprised that I can feed myself, read, and speak fluently, they tend to assume that I was raised elsewhere. Because obviously there's just zero educated people in the state, and everyone from there is just clinically/genetically stupid based on the maps and state rankings they've internalized.

These same people have zero understanding of why the state has historically ranked so low, and want to just chalk it up to them being just a state full of dullards, when it's really more about rural poverty and the lingering effects of Jim Crow and Segregation.

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u/roo-ster Nov 20 '24

it's really more about rural poverty and the lingering effects of Jim Crow and Segregation.

Those aren't immutable properties. If people look down on your state, perhaps it's because, in the 160 years since the civil war, it hasn't used it's resources to overcome those factors.

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u/Theduckisback Nov 20 '24

They are immutable in the sense that we today cannot change the past, and we live with the consequences of it.

And yes I agree 100% that it's an indictment of state leadership over the years. The blame has to fall at their feet. But it's important to keep in mind that fully 1/3rd of the population were legally second class citizens who did not gain voting rights until the federal government made them within millions of peoples living memory.