Mississippi Moves to Boost Literacy in Grade School

Forty six percent of Mississippi 3rd graders cannot read on the 4th grade level. The Literacy Based Promotion Act is now in effect in Mississippi as a direct result of half of our 3rd graders scoring below proficient on the state language assessment.

The newly enacted 3rd grade reading gate law states that any 3rd grade student not able to read at grade level by the end of the school year will be held back.

In an effort to make Mississippi students better readers, schools like Pass Road Elementary have started issuing universal screenings to determine how well each student can read. Patty Cooper, Assistant Principal of Pass Road Elementary, says, “Those diagnostic assessments allow us to give students individualized instruction at their area of weakness so that we can make sure we remediate it in time for the children to be successful.”

School officials believe it’s better to hold struggling students back and work with them than allow them to advance and have a harder time at the higher levels. Even one of Mississippi’s most prominent leaders was held back and it didn’t have any consequence on his career. Governor Phil Bryant says, “I repeated the 3rd grade. I’m dyslexic, so I couldn’t read at the 3rd grade level. My mother and the principals got together with the teachers and decided it was best to hold me back. That’s okay, I came through it better for the experience.”

Teachers are stressing that this is not just an in-classroom effort. They are encouraging parents to designate at least 20 to 30 minutes of reading time per night. Miral Patel, a 3rd grade teacher at Pass Road Elementary, says, “Asking questions just about the story, what’s going on in the story, those who, what, where, when, how questions about the story, talking about the characters, just discussing what they’re reading.”

School administrators say it has to be a team effort between parents and teachers to turn the page for their child’s future, helping them become better equipped for their education and their career. Mississippi’s reading gate law is modeled after a Florida law which has already proven to be quite successful.