No. The skeptics are wrong. The Southern Surge is real.
The most important story in K-12 education is that a handful of states — and not the ones most expect — have figured out the tricky business of teaching kids to read. Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama have each bucked national trends by using a common approach and, in so doing, they have revealed the literacy playbook for even cash-strapped states in the Deep South. No excuses, California.
That story was everywhere last week, thanks to Kelsey Piper’s article here at The Argument, “Illiteracy is a policy choice.” In it, she took the media and elected officials to task for underplaying the trend. But the tide is swiftly turning: Last week, The Boston Globedeclared that “New England Schools Are Failing” and that “the ‘Southern Surge’ should be a wake-up call.” The same day, Rahm Emanuel called for an “education reset,” saying these Southern state reforms should become “the meat and potatoes of Democrats’ education agenda.”
But not everyone sees these trends in the data as a path forward for pushing schools to take reading seriously. Freddie deBoer, the left leaning author of The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice, published a fervent critique of Kelsey’s piece on his Substack. He closed with a challenge. “We’ll see if The Argument, a magazine seemingly founded on the premise that liberal good vibes can overcome every inconvenient fact and complication, will engage with this kind of criticism.”
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Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection?
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Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $25,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results.
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?