Posted on 02/09/2026 2:15:00 PM PST by DFG
It's astonishing to witness the improvement in public education--reading, math, attendance, grad rates--in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. But we're busy fighting culture wars rather than scaling up what these three states have done. Please do read:
https://nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1A.hGAi.QpbdtKzj51Ke&smid=url-share
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I’m in Oklahoma. We’re just trying to make it to 49.
If it's true, great but I'll wait for further confirmation.
—These States are largely free from the stifling clutches of the Teachers Unions.
Is this because these states improved dramatically or because the rest of the states just got much worse?
I’m skeptical when it’s reported minority students suddenly improve. We generally find out later test scores were changed.
“I’m in Oklahoma. We’re just trying to make it to 49.”
I believe that California has, on average, the worst public schools.
But all US Public Schools are child abuse. All of them, everywhere.
I know it is amazing but these methods work.
Shocking that the author is Kristoff.
My experience is that black teachers largely refuse to teach gimmicks. They like everything old school. The reason is that young black teachers were mentored by older black teachers and older black teachers don’t have time for that BS.
Mississippi has led dramatic long-term improvements (e.g., from 49th to 9th nationally in fourth-grade reading since 2013, with top rankings when adjusted for demographics like poverty).
Louisiana was the only state to surpass pre-pandemic (2019) levels in fourth-grade reading by 2024 and showed strong recovery in both subjects.
Alabama achieved standout growth in fourth-grade math (surpassing pre-pandemic levels) and held steady or improved in reading while most states declined.
“I’m skeptical when it’s reported minority students suddenly improve. We generally find out later test scores were changed.”
In Mississippi if you can’t pass reading in 3rd grade you get held back so the kids doing well in 4th grade include 5th grade age kids who got an extra year to reach 4th grade level.
It may be the right thing to do but it is not a miracle.
Snowbirds bringing south their unmarried / divorced daughters and their children. The feral ghetto metro areas of MS and AL show zero improvement, but the coastal towns are having a heyday as capital makes it way west, finally outpriced from Miramar and Destin and skipping over the Pensacola metro which has too many established ghetto problems of its own.
More bull from the Gray Whore.
“It’s astonishing to witness the improvement in public education—reading, math, attendance, grad rates—in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi”
Democrat Response: “Those states are TOTALLY BACKWARDS, having rejected the the Teacher Unions and best minds when it comes to designing curriculums, and then voting MAGA. So just ignore this propaganda - we know what we’re doing and we will continue to do that, so no need to worry.”
My mom was telling me a few years ago about the tremendous reading improvements in Mississippi (where she went to college and where we still have family). She read about the state’s public school system’s initiatives/commitments to the teaching of good old phonics, if I remember correctly. It has made a major impact; I didn’t even know about the improvements in Louisiana and Alabama (also states where we have lived and/or still have family). Who would have thought that something that was once proven to work…still works? Go figure.
They were great in the 60s.
I spent the best 4 yrs of my life in 4th grade.
I know you’re kidding, but I’ll tell you that 4th grade was one of the most important grades in my life. I spent it in a 2-room country school with grades 2 through 6 in 1956. My teacher knew that my dad worked in the local creamery and had access to thermometers that had a glass ring on one end so they could be submersed in warm milk pasteurizers. she showed me how to make a sling psychrometer for measuring relative humidity. I attached 2 of them to a wooden board so they could be slung around in a circle in the air. One bulb was covered with a wet cloth, and the other dry.
I demonstrated it to the class, and even the big 6tth graders were interested. The wet bulb was much colder than the dry bulb, and the amount of cooling was dependent on the humidity.
I learned that science was fun, and enjoyed it for the rest of my life. I became an engineer, and still work part-time at it because it’s still fun.
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