Comparing Mississippi and New Mexico 4th grade reading NAEP

As the Rio Grande Foundation continues to analyze the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data released last week we again look at Mississippi which (unlike New Mexico) fully embraced the so-called “Florida model” for education reform. This model was originally pushed in New Mexico with the support of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and Education Secretary Hannah Skandera.

Mississippi, a state with many of the same social and economic issues as New Mexico, became known as the “Mississippi Miracle” thanks to its dramatic improvement in educational outcomes, especially in the area of reading. While it was not a “school choice” driven miracle, Mississippi’s outcomes were the result of complete buy in to things like phonics based learning, an end to social promotion, and teaching teachers how to teach phonics correctly (among others).

As can be seen from the chart below, Mississippi and New Mexico had similar 4th grade reading results back in 2011 but New Mexico suffered massive declines thanks in part to Gov. Lujan Grisham’s COVID policies which locked New Mexico students out of their schools for over a year. Mississippi saw a slight dip during COVID, but has rebounded and seems poised for further improvements.

RGF has written extensively about the “Mississippi Miracle.” New Mexico should follow Mississippi’s lead and add to their reforms by embracing school choice as well.