Mississippi Today
Mississippi falls short of an eighth-grade literacy miracle
Much has been made nationally of Mississippi's improvement in fourth-grade reading scores.
Whether being celebrated or scrutinized, attention has been squarely focused on elementary students and their reading instruction. Mississippi students and educators have closed the gap and reached the national average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This growth can be attributed to several factors, but chief among them is a 2013 state law that created a more robust infrastructure around helping children learn to read and holding them back at the end of third grade if they didn't hit a certain benchmark.
But this national test also measures students again in eighth grade. The gap between the national average and Mississippi's eighth-grade reading score has gotten smaller over the last decade, but it hasn't closed at the rate of fourth-grade reading.
State leaders are paying attention.
“Some of our challenge points are eighth-grade reading,” Interim State Superintendent Ray Morgigno said when presenting an annual report at the Jan. 18 State Board of Education meeting.
Morgigno then pointed to the pilot programs underway around the state to expand Mississippi's fourth-grade reading strategies up to the middle school level. One is being operated by the Mississippi Department of Education in conjunction with a regional arm of the U.S. Department of Education.
Another one of these pilots, the Mississippi Reading Clinic, is a “legacy project of the Barksdale Reading Institute” according to its website. The Barksdale Reading Institute led some early conversations around literacy reform in Mississippi by defining the problem and testing out solutions that eventually became the basis of the 2013 state law.
Kelly Butler, former CEO of the Barksdale Reading Institute, said a unique approach to middle school literacy is necessary because instruction shifts in fourth grade from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” This means the curriculum no longer focuses on direct instruction in decoding words, instead having students read passages to learn new concepts. For students who may have passed the third-grade test but are still not strong readers, this can be a particularly challenging transition.
To address this, both pilots are training subject area teachers in upper grades on literacy instruction and methods to incorporate it in their classrooms. Butler said they're trying to create a paradigm shift that “Everybody is a literacy teacher – this is what it looks like in K-3 and this is what it looks like in 4-8.”
The state partnership with the federal education department is focused on three school districts: Canton, Columbus and Laurel.
In Laurel, the District ELA Coordinator Kristin Walters said she's glad to be participating in the pilot program because it “adds purpose and validity” to strategies she was already trying to implement in the district.
Walters said the approach used in the program employs a research-based practice guide, instructing teachers to first lead students in a discussion on the topic of the text, preview new vocabulary words before encountering them, annotate passages in a manner specific to its subject and structure, and review their annotations with another student.
“It's a routine that is just a very structured way to teach the text and have students engage deeply with the text,” Walters said.
Walters said the district curriculum leads for each subject area have been the point people for making sure teachers are implementing the new strategy. Walters said it's too early to have definitive results for the program, which is in its second year, but added that the district's mid-year benchmark testing scores for science and English are both up over last year.
‘To me, it's important that we as a state and as a district, that we are focusing on those adolescent readers and they're not just getting lost in the cracks just because they're not in elementary school anymore,” she said.
The partnership also has a second element focusing on training middle school interventionists. Walters said older students who are struggling to read have different needs, in part because students have developed coping mechanisms like skipping words and guessing to get by. For these students, it's important to help them access the meaning of more complex words without taking it back to the ABCs and talking down to them.
Butler said she believes the Legislature needs to fund middle school interventionists statewide if the state wants to see eighth-grade reading scores improve.
Leaders at the Mississippi Department of Education are also interested in scaling up their middle school literacy work but don't have the funding to do so. Kristen Wynn, MDE's state literacy director, said the department has already developed a model policy for middle-school literacy improvements but legislative funding only applies to K-3 efforts. If additional funding were made available, the model policy would include teacher training and interventionists in upper grades, similar to the 2013 law without a “gate” assessment.
“We (sic) are well aware that some kids fall through the cracks and have difficulties when we're moving in that middle school space,” Wynn said. “Kids in middle school still have phonics gaps and so we still have to equip teachers with what they need to fill those holes and to close those gaps.”
READ MORE: Mississippi's ‘reading miracle' has been out of reach for some schools
READ MORE: How many students are retained by the ‘third-grade gate'? No one knows
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Dau Mabil’s widow, her family say they seek justice for him
Karissa Bowley and her family say they support all efforts to find justice for the late Dau Mabil, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan who came to Jackson in 2000 despite implications by others to the contrary.
“Dau was special before he ever married me,” his widow told reporters in a Friday press conference. “I'm just here, missing him.”
Mabil, a 33-year-old Belhaven Heights resident, disappeared March 25. He was seen on video surveillance on Jefferson Street between Fortification and High streets, and at one point went to the Museum Trail to check on corn he planted.
Bowley searched for her husband with others. “The whole ordeal has been frustrating and tragic,” she said. “I wouldn't wish it on anybody.”
Three weeks after his disappearance, a fisherman spotted a body floating in the Pearl River near Lawrence County, more than 50 miles away. By April 18, a preliminary autopsy had revealed the body belonged to Mabil. The Lawrence County sheriff said there was no evidence of foul play. Her family said Friday that authorities told them they are waiting on toxicology tests before finalizing the official autopsy.
Bowley said it wasn't unusual for Dau to leave without his phone and his identification.
Texts contained in court records reveal a strained relationship between Bowley and Mabil. Bowley complained that Mabil was “drinking a lot,” and Mabil complained that Bowley “does not know how to control her emotions.”
Bowley's brother, Spencer, responded Friday, “No marriage is perfect, and theirs wasn't either.”
But he said the allegation that Bowley or the family had anything to do with Mabil's disappearance is simply false.
He said some claimed on social media that Bowley contacted police just 30 minutes after Mabil disappeared or that she waited until the next day. He said both claims are entirely false.
Bowley said there is a void where her husband once was. “Grief is your body, mind and spirit saying no,” she said, “but the reality is still there.”
After the state finishes its investigation, official autopsy results will be released to Bowley and Mabil's brother, Bul, according to a court order.
Bul Mabil recently won the right to have an independent autopsy performed on Dau's remains.
Bowley's family said they support all efforts by Bul Mabil and others to find justice.
“I'm feeling very deeply the loss of Dau. I keep pushing for justice for Dau,” Bowley said. “He's a person I care to honor the rest of my life.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Gwen Dilworth joins health team at Mississippi Today
Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Gwen Dilworth has joined the community health team at Mississippi Today.
Dilworth is a native of Durham, North Carolina, and most recently completed a fellowship at The Times-Independent in Moab, Utah, where she covered local government and Southeast Utah's mining industry. Before that, she worked at Innocence Project New Orleans where she advocated for people serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes.
“Gwen is not only a fantastic writer but an impressive investigator with a diverse skill set and a knack for ensuring accuracy,” said Kate Royals, community health editor at Mississippi Today. “Mississippi is lucky to have her here.”
Dilworth also served as a fact checker for Boyce Upholt's book “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi” and freelanced for local news publication The Mid-City Messenger in New Orleans.
“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to cover a beat that is so important and connected to Mississippians' daily lives,” said Dilworth. “I'm thrilled to be joining a team of passionate and talented journalists covering critical topics in the state with thoughtfulness and care. I'm looking forward to learning from and being a part of such a vibrant and welcoming community.”
Dilworth will report on the intersection of health and criminal justice, among other areas of the health beat.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1965
JUNE 14, 1965
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party organized a one-mile silent march, starting at Morning Star Baptist Church and ending at the Mississippi Capitol, where lawmakers were contemplating changes in voting laws.
Jackson police arrested the marchers, more than half of them students from Lanier High School. Over the next few weeks, more than 1,000 were arrested and held in livestock pens at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds.
During the protest, 5-year-old Anthony Quin waved a U.S. flag outside the Governor's Mansion. Matt Herron's photograph of state trooper Huey Krohn trying to wrestle the flag from Quin's hands ran in The New York Times and other newspapers across the U.S. Quin later said that his mother had told him to hold onto that flag for dear life — and he did.
On June 30, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the release of those arrested and barred the city of Jackson from making any further arrests.
Despite Quin's young age, this wasn't his first brush with the civil rights movement. A month before this photo was taken, his family's home was firebombed in McComb because of their work in the movement. He and his sisters went on to become the first students to integrate McComb public schools.
From those days of fighting racism on a day-by-day basis, Quin learned to care for students. He became a principal of several different elementary schools before becoming an administrator over the schools. In 2015, he died of pancreatic cancer.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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