Mississippi Blues: There's a Reason (several actually) Why We Lag Behind

As much as I respect President Obama and his overall vision for our nation, I had to cringe as he, like so many politicians, used the children of Mississippi as an example of what's wrong with education in America.

The problems are real, but the comparison of the performance of fourth graders in Mississippi to those in Wyoming focuses attention on the symptoms, not the causes of educational inequity. The problem is NOT that the two states have differently written standards. For a wonderful analysis of the unmentioned and overlooked facts behind the President's comment, look at this in The Daily Howler (hat tip to my TLN colleague, Ken Bernstein for sharing).

Setting the bar high and limited testing at the end only helps us see where potential problems might be; it doesn't solve them.

The Howler piece points out several realities that separate education in the two states (per pupil spending, percentage of poor and Black students, which tests are administered, etc.) One it does not include is the difference in teacher pay: Average pay for teachers in Wyoming (5th in the nation) in 2006-07 was $50,771, while Mississippi teachers only averaged $40,182 (47th in nation). All of these disparities have their roots in Mississippi's sad history of racial discrimination and its sibling: opposition to progress, especially in the public sector where Black people might obtain some of the benefit. The price of having fought for generations to keep one group of citizens at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder is now having to be faced and paid.

Improving the quality of education for all our children is a national priority, but a localized task. It requires the knowledgable contributions of many parties, most notably the parents and teachers of a given state or community. Two groups historically left out in the planning stages of these major reform efforts.

Comments

[Claus]

Thanks for your thoughtful reminder about the many factors--including historical factors--that can hold back progress. Do you think uneven standards might mask some of the inequities between and within states?

[TeachMoore]

I doubt it. Most states base their standards on those established by the national professional organizations in each content area; if you look at the wording, there is actually a great deal of consistency. The state level standards are usually less the problem than the methods used to measure student progress toward the standards. Standardized tests are produced by a relatively small group of companies using fairly similar databanks of prefabricated questions. Most of these tests, even the best of them, are neither rigorous enough nor comprehensive enough to truly gauge either student achievement or teacher performance.

More to the point: Each state gets to decide what constitutes "passing" on its evaluation instrument. The decision where to set the cut score is more political than it is pedagogical.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Wonderful piece, Renee. Glad to see that Blogboard picked it up--it should be widely read.

When are people going to understand that raising standards does not equate to raising achievement? If only it were that simple. Rewriting or standardizing standards (think about that, etymologically) between states will only make data analysis easier. It will not change what needs to be changed: long-term commitment to equity of resources, investment in bringing the best people into teaching, and continuous development of effective teaching practice. Some social supports would be helpful, too--but giving people a leg up educationally is the first step. IMHO, of course.

Keep writing about Mississippi. The nation needs to stop seeing MS as a point of comparison, and begin to understand that an economically healthy nation is composed of healthy states.