A miracle defies the laws of nature.

This is why "the Mississippi Miracle," the sobriquet for the extraordinary gains that students in the Gulf state have made in reading in recent years, is a misnomer.

There's nothing miraculous about a state that adopts phonics and sets high standards for its kids getting better results in reading instruction. This, to the contrary, is a predictable outcome, and a replicable one, as other Southern states that have taken up similar polices have shown.

Mississippi went from 49th in fourth-grade reading results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress about a decade ago to ninth in 2024. Its low-income children are ranked first in the nation. Its black kids are third in the nation and its Hispanic kids first. Overall, when adjusted for socioeco

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