[kogus]

The article suggests that someone from Maine would be reluctant to ask Mississippi for advice, given the stereotypes and biases that all Americans have absorbed over the years.

If the Maine Secretary of Education overcame his or her reluctance and did in fact ask Mississippi for advice, imagine their disappointment if the response was "we actually teach math".

Do you have a source for your response? I'm genuinely curious about what they changed to achieve this level of success. I'd be interested first for the actual educational methods, and secondarily I'd be interested in relating it to the idea of organizational changes that can produce relatively rapid reversals of a long term trend.

[ch4s3]

You can read a bit about it here [1]. They structure reading around 5 pillars, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension which is an evidence based approach[2]. Then if by the end of 3rd grade a student isn't reading at grade level they hold the student back to give them more time to learn to read so that they will be prepared for the more advanced material in 4th grade. I don't know as much about the math instruction.

[1] https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/mississippi-student...

[2] https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/a-full-breakdown-of-the-s...

[leereeves]

> imagine their disappointment if the response was "we actually teach math"

And yet, looking at the chart in the article, that appears to be pretty much all there is to say.

Judging by results (based on the limited evidence in the article) Mississippi doesn't seem to be doing anything revolutionary. Their scores today are still significantly worse than Maine was in 2013.

The question we should be asking is "What is Maine doing wrong?" What caused their scores to decline precipitously since 2013?

[mcphage]

> And yet, looking at the chart in the article, that appears to be pretty much all there is to say.

The problem is, the Maine Secretary of Education would then reply “We actually teach math, also.”