Shad White is right to celebrate Mississippi’s early literacy gains and to ask why those gains fade by middle school. The answer may lie in how reading and writing instruction changes as students move into upper grades.
Learning to read in the early years focuses on developing academic vocabulary and beginning reading skills. However, reading difficulties can persist into later grades or emerge later as students analyze texts that are significantly longer and more complex. When students lack these skills, middle and high school coursework becomes harder to master, even for students who learned foundational reading skills in the early grades. Strong early literacy instruction and grade-level reading ability by the end of third grade do not guarantee that students will avoid difficulties later.
Districts across the country are addressing this gap with professional learning opportunities for teachers of all subjects in grades 4-12. State legislators are also in support of adolescent literacy. For example, a bill is currently before the Mississippi Legislature that would expand the state’s literacy efforts to include grades 4-8.
Mississippi showed what strong early literacy policy can achieve. Sustaining the “Mississippi Miracle” requires equal attention to literacy instruction in the middle and high school years.
Ms. Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy by K12 Coalition and author of the new book, The Essentials of Adolescent Literacy
