In U.S. state rankings, Mississippi held the distinction until 2013 of worst education performance: 49th of 50 states in fourth-grade reading proficiency on the national NAEP test. Eleven years later the state stood in 9th place. The transformation succeeded with a budget of 15 million dollars annually for reading coaches, in one of the poorest American states. 42 states have since adopted parts of the approach in their own legislation.
What Mississippi did differently
The heart of the reforms was methodological. Mississippi returned to reading instruction that cognitive scientists call "science of reading." The framework encompasses five components taught systematically and sequentially: phonemic awareness (recognizing individual sounds in words), phonics (mapping sounds to letters), reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. This approach had fallen from favor in many states during the 1990s as more holistic methods emphasizing intuition and context-guessing took over from systematic phonics training.
Mississippi made the shift law. The Literacy-Based Promotion Act of 2013 required schools to identify struggling readers by third grade and provide targeted intervention. Schools had to hire reading specialists and coaches to support teachers directly in classrooms. Teacher training programs for elementary education were overhauled: all elementary teacher candidates must now pass a competency test in reading instruction methods.
The architect of change
The central figure behind implementation was Dr. Carey Wright, who served as State Superintendent of Education from 2013 to 2022. She is credited as the first woman to hold the office permanently and is the primary architect of the Mississippi model. Wright built a statewide system of reading coaches deployed to schools to support teachers directly. Governor Tate Reeves described the investment this way: "We invested in our teachers. We invested in hiring reading coaches. We spent 15 million dollars a year doing it."
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) subsequently certified Mississippi as having the nation's strongest evidence-based reading policy. It identified Mississippi as one of only twelve states consistently implementing guidelines that strengthen teachers in scientifically-grounded reading instruction.
What the numbers show and what critics doubt
The 2024 NAEP results show fourth-graders in Mississippi scored 219 on the reading scale, compared to roughly 209 in 2013. When adjusted for student demographics, that is, income distribution and racial composition, Mississippi actually ranked first nationally. Governor Reeves stated that between 3,000 and 4,000 additional students now graduate high school annually who would not have done so 15 years earlier.
Paul Thomas, education professor at Furman University in South Carolina, questions the magnitude of success. He points out that Mississippi annually retains between 9,000 and 12,000 students in lower grades. This figure has remained largely constant despite claimed reading improvements. If 95 percent of students could read, Thomas argues, retention rates should drop dramatically. Additionally, NAEP results for eighth grade are considerably weaker than fourth grade, suggesting that early test gains may not correspond to deep reading comprehension. Yet he acknowledges the fourth-grade gains are real.
In comparison: The movement gains momentum
As of March 2026, 42 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prioritizing evidence-based reading instruction. States like Arkansas and Tennessee that adopted Mississippi-style reforms report similar NAEP reading gains, though from different starting points. An analysis in The Conversation called Mississippi's experience a "model for global literacy reform." The World Bank, which has evaluated over 150 education programs globally, counts targeted instruction matched to actual student proficiency as one of the most effective low-cost interventions in education.
Reading through 8th grade: What SB 2294 mandates
In April 2026, Governor Reeves signed law SB 2294, permanently anchoring and expanding the reform. The law extends reading interventions from third through eighth grade, requires all school districts to hire at least one reading specialist or dyslexia expert, and mandates that parents be informed within ten days if a reading deficit is identified. The law passed both chambers unanimously. Rob Roberson, chair of the House Education Committee, called it "one of the most important things the House will do for education this year."
Critical will be whether reforms take hold in eighth grade, the age group where NAEP results still reveal system weakness. If numbers there also rise, the Mississippi model will have proven itself completely. The next NAEP assessment, which could show this, will be conducted in 2026, with results appearing in 2027.