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Why Kids Can’t Read
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Episode 83. In this episode of Play on Words, reading specialist and early childhood educator Beth Gaskill discusses overcoming perfectionism, rejection sensitivity, and learning to advocate for your child's education during America's literacy crisis.Beth explores the alarming statistics behind the U.S. reading crisis — 67% of fourth graders cannot read proficiently — and shares the success story of Mississippi's reading instruction reforms. Mississippi's evidence-based approach to teaching reading, including intensive teacher training in phonics and the science of reading, has transformed student outcomes and proves that reading failure is preventable.This episode is essential listening for parents of struggling readers, those struggling with fear of rejection, and anyone who wants to understand how to advocate for better reading instruction in schools. Whether you're concerned about dyslexia, phonics instruction, or your child's literacy development, this conversation offers practical strategies and hope.
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In This Episode About Reading Advocacy and Literacy Crisis, You'll Learn:
Why perfectionism holds parents back from advocating for their children's education
How rejection sensitivity and ADHD can make it harder to ask for help
What Mississippi's reading reforms teach us about science-based reading instruction and phonics
Why evidence-based reading instruction (structured literacy) is critical for all students
How to overcome fear of rejection when advocating for your struggling reader
Practical steps to build confidence in educational advocacy, starting small
Mentioned in This Episode:Big Feelings, Bigger Reactions: Parenting Kids With ADHD
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About the HostBeth Gaskill (Miss Beth) is a reading specialist, early childhood educator, and founder of Big City Readers. She helps parents support their children's literacy development through research-backed, science of reading strategies.
Follow Miss Beth:Instagram: @bigcityreaders
Website: bigcityreaders.com
Podcast: Play on Words from Big City Readers
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Transcript
Building Confidence: Overcoming Fear of Asking
00:00:00
Speaker
Where can you start to show your brain and body that it's not scary to ask? So then you take that evidence and you slowly let it build up and build those pathways in your brain. And then one day, maybe you're like, actually, i got to ask my school about this reading curriculum. And I'm not afraid to ask because I am standing up for kids.
00:00:20
Speaker
And it's not mean to ask for what we need or what other people need.
Introduction to Play Onwards with Miss Beth
00:00:24
Speaker
Play Onwards! Play Onwards! This is Play Onwards from Big City Readers. It's Miss Beth.
00:00:32
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Play Onwards podcast from Big City Readers. It is your host, Miss Beth. I just realized i got this little microphone cover, if you're watching this, and I didn't put it on my microphone yet, but I already started, so we'll do that next time.
00:00:49
Speaker
um Because done is better than perfect, because... Being a perfectionist doesn't stop you from doing things perfectly. It just stops you from doing things. And I have learned this and have had a very hard time putting it into practice, but I try to do it every single day. Just do it. Just show up. Just start.
00:01:11
Speaker
So here we are. How are you?
Stories, Pop Culture, and Humor
00:01:15
Speaker
It's mid-January, 2026, and it has been the longest year ever.
00:01:23
Speaker
The longest week. It's only Wednesday still. But also some fun and exciting things are going on One, my sister just texted me a beautiful gift. She said all we do is like talk about work and family things. And, you know, there's just so much going on all the time. And she said, did you read the text between Blake and Taylor? Blake is unhinged and Taylor it seems so cool. It's sort of fun to read.
Cultural Sharing and TikTok Trends
00:01:48
Speaker
so That is something that I'm looking forward to. I'm going to have that with my lunch later. Also, the Beckham stuff, Victoria Beckham. I famously don't know a lot about pop culture and mix people up all the time. So this is going to be my assignment today is going to be to learn more about these pop culture things that are happening. So I'll report back in the next episode. But I'll share some things. One, on TikTok, I don't know if you're on TikTok, you're
00:02:18
Speaker
The big thing right now is that everyone is becoming Chinese. Now I know that sounds ridiculous. Let me explain. So this creator named Sherry just started making videos. It's like, if you want to be Chinese, here's what you do.
00:02:35
Speaker
And her and her mom are... just sharing like things like we boil apples and pears every day and we only drink hot liquids. And so everybody, it it just took off. it It grew legs and everybody is like, well, now that I'm Chinese or like, so every day she starts a video, like if you want to be Chinese, this is what you eat for breakfast. So she's like showing very cool parts of her culture. And a lot of people are just like loving it and trying it. And i just think that's so special when the world feels so chaotic that
00:03:06
Speaker
One family is sharing their stories and people are loving it. Like there are like grown men, like 60 years old being like, I just found out I'm Chinese and now I eat this for breakfast.
00:03:20
Speaker
So it's really fun and funny. And sweet. So I've switched to only hot liquids because I guess that's better for your digestion. She taught us that your digestion is like fire. And if you put cold liquids in, you're like putting putting it out and you're making your body damp. And everybody's like, gosh, I don't want to have a damp body, damp bones.
00:03:40
Speaker
So anyway, that's one thing that's funny. Okay, a personal thing. Abby Young, the Abby Young method is this other creator on TikTok who is not new, but she has this method of hair care that is just drugstore hair care.
00:03:55
Speaker
And I have switched exclusively to it after using nice shampoo for years and spending so much money on it. She has this like five step method and all of the products are under $10. And I feel like my hair has never looked better. So two things to check out on your next scroll.
The Global Literacy Crisis and Courage to Ask
00:04:14
Speaker
But let's dive into the real reason we're here. The global literacy crisis. Was that too harsh without a segue? Let me know. Oh, one other thing that's happening on TikTok. This will be more of a segue.
00:04:27
Speaker
Is i am on a rejection streak. And let me explain how I got here. i read this book like a decade ago called Rejection Proof. And it's about this man who is kind of like in a slump. I think he's trying to get a new job. I've spent a long time since I read it. And he's like feeling insecure by a rejection. Right.
00:04:50
Speaker
So he decides to set out on a quest to get rejected every single day, I think for a year, and to document what happens. And what he learns, spoiler alert, is that a lot of people will do the things that he asks for. So he had to get creative. And I don't know why this one sticks out to me, but... It was like during the Olympics and he went to donut place and he was like, I don't want a dozen donuts. I want half a dozen donuts and I want them cut in the shape of the Olympics, the Olympic symbol. And they're like, okay.
00:05:25
Speaker
He was like, well, that didn't seem like big enough. Could I, could I come back there and do it? And they're like, Sure. i I think that's what happened in that one. But like he found like, oh, my gosh, I just have to ask. And sometimes people say no and sometimes people say yes. So he learned it's not so scary to ask.
00:05:44
Speaker
So I'm copying this because in a recent episode with Dr. Carrie Jackson, I'll link that in the show notes, she said, is a psychologist and focuses on ADHD. She has ADHD herself, so she and I bond over that. She got diagnosed after she finished her PhD. So late in life, I got diagnosed in the 90s, so we have different experiences, but similar experiences too because...
00:06:11
Speaker
Even today, it's harder for girls to get a diagnosis. And there's a lot more, but there's not a ton of understanding around ADHD. I think a lot of people think it means like you can't sit still, which for some people, sure.
Understanding ADHD and Emotional Sensitivity
00:06:26
Speaker
But for a lot of people like myself, i was a really good student. I had a lot of friends. I had good grades. um I didn't get to talk too much in class.
00:06:36
Speaker
um I was pretty quiet. Actually, I was shy. I was a little anxious. I didn't ever want to leave my parents. But... My mom knew because she said i was really good at whatever I did.
00:06:49
Speaker
i just um had a hard time making a decision. And that is true for me today. So bringing it all in that's why I need to not be such a perfectionist and just Do it. Like, stop thinking so much about it, which I think is counterintuitive because a lot of people think people with ADHD are super impulsive, which sometimes they are too. So everything, there's nuance to everything, right? That is the word of the year that I wish that everybody would adopt.
00:07:17
Speaker
So... In that episode about ADHD, we also talked about RSD, which is rejection-sensitive dysphoria. And that is often coupled with ADHD. And rejection-sensitive dysphoria is the perceived rejection feeling so much worse than the actual rejection. So let's just use kids with ADHD as an example here. And if they have this RSD, they build up how someone feels about them.
00:07:43
Speaker
much worse than it is. So that might look like, oh, you asked a friend to come over and they can't. Depending on the level of overstimulation or um stress um or overwhelm, they might think, oh my god, everybody hates me. I have no friends. So the jumping to conclusions that it feels like in their brain, and mine sometimes too, like everybody hates me just from that one little rejection. That rejection seems so much bigger. I've talked to so many of you in my DMs about this too. You're like, my child, I don't think has ADHD, but I think they have this. Like I'll say, oh we can't listen to that song right now because someone else is using the Spotify account. And you would have thought that I said that we were moving away from all of her best friends for the rest of her life. And So this is very normal and there are some tools and things we can do.
00:08:41
Speaker
Go check out that episode because we talk about that there. But I started sharing this journey on social media. And the first one I did was like because I was in a safe space. I was in i was with my friends at a restaurant we go to all the time and I know all the servers. And I said, could we could we get three mimosas? And is it possible for any of them to be free? i was like, let me just try.
00:09:04
Speaker
And spoiler alert, ah no, they weren't free, but we did get our copies for free, which is always so funny because I feel like whenever I get something for free, I tip so much more than the amount of that item. Like I was at a restaurant and I got, they gave us like little pastries for free and I was like, well, we should give them an extra 20, right? And it's like the pastries on the menu were $4. Yeah. So I'm a big fan of taking care of your servers, which is really interesting because like there was a big debate on this TikTok that went viral of this. So most people
Advocating for Children's Education
00:09:36
Speaker
were like, wow, this is inspiring. a lot of people said, i have a friend or a spouse that always asks for things because if you don't ask, the answer is just no. So you might as well try. And then some people were like, this is so entitled to ask for free things or to demand free things. So it's really interesting because i was like, actually, we don't, it wasn't a demand. You can see in the video I asked and people were like, you transferred your anxiety to that person, which is really interesting because we actually don't really know how the server felt. It's actually a very close friend of mine. And I do, I do know how they felt. They laughed. um So anyway, that's another thing that's been going on on the internet.
00:10:17
Speaker
So what do you think? Will you try getting rejected? Does it feel terrifying? Is your nervous system more like mine and saying something like, this isn't the manicure I wanted, make your nervous system feel like you are being chased by a bear?
00:10:32
Speaker
I think it's a much bigger issue, and I think more women struggle with this than men. And I think while it does seem so lighthearted to practice this and try to get rejected, so either you get the goal, my goal was to get rejected, or you get the thing. And hopefully that starts to rewire my nervous system by doing this for 30 days. The second day, i was at Trader Joe's, and they said, did you find everything you needed? And I said, yes.
00:10:57
Speaker
And I didn't. So like why, you know, it takes a lot of practice, just like we talk about with kids with reading and any behavior strategies that we do in the classroom or at home. You cannot give up after one go. Like your brain has so much wiring, has built this path. So like I always love to imagine fresh fallen snow. Let's say it's three feet. You open your door and there is no path anywhere. and you got to go to the store to get milk. And you walk to the store to get milk, and then you walk back in the same path. So you're pushing the snow down. Well, the next day, you got to go somewhere. do you think you're going to through the three feet of snow? or do you think you're going to go through the path that you already made?
00:11:38
Speaker
Imagine your brain the same way. So we have built these paths that go from like I, somebody says no to me, i am rejected. This is the end of the world.
00:11:53
Speaker
We have built that connection in the brain so quickly. Those neurons have wired together. And so we've done that so many times subconsciously. and Obviously, kids aren't choosing to be like that or adults aren't choosing to be like that. So we have built that pathway. So obviously, me asking for something and getting over my fear of rejection one time,
00:12:14
Speaker
is just walking through the snow one time. When I have walked through this path of, okay, it's bad to say what I need. It's bad to ask for something. If I walk through that path, let's say I've walked through it.
00:12:25
Speaker
My thoughts have been like that maybe a hundred times a day 35 years. Obviously, that it is going to be so effortless to get to that path, to get to that from point A to point B, from point A of no, you can't have that to point B being like, you're in danger because you asked why do you even think of that? So me going from point A asking for something to point C, oh, it wasn't so scary. They said no, and I'm alive. um And I did that one time. That's going to take a lot more
00:12:58
Speaker
practice to make those paths look equal to my nervous system so that when I'm in one of those moments, my nervous system can choose either path because there there have been there have been enough practice with getting to both of those points. Both of those points being rejection or it was no big deal. You asked and they said no. Okay.
00:13:22
Speaker
So I think this is a much bigger issue for women than men, of course, as most things are. But so many men do ask for what they need and women don't. And it's these tiny moments of practice asking for what you need that make us have the strength and the resilience and the bravery to ask for bigger things, right? We don't just go from being like, I can't ask for something to asking for something big. So I shared this on TikTok that I said, this is a silly little practice, but people often DM me saying, i am so nervous about asking my child's teacher about XYZ because I don't want to offend them.
00:14:01
Speaker
And literally, kids' lives are on the line. um Learning to read is life or death for many kids. Maybe not your kid, but that is your kid and that is your privilege if you can't understand that. It took me a while to understand that, too. There are so many things that I don't understand because I have so much privilege.
Mississippi's Reading Reform Success
00:14:20
Speaker
So many of us, I know, know this and feel helpless. But We can't be afraid of asking questions and thinking that it's rude just to ask. It is not rude to ask.
00:14:33
Speaker
And in fact, I would go as far as saying, you can demand more answers from your child's school. That is something that you can be demanding. But it's so wild that people are even shaming people for even asking something as simple like, as can you fix this nail? I didn't like it. Or like, actually, can you can you do this differently? I didn't like my haircut.
00:14:53
Speaker
Obviously, those moments where we feel shame and where people make us feel shame by being like, yeah, you're entitled. That poor server had to feel uncomfortable because you asked for something for free.
00:15:06
Speaker
Those little things go into how we talk to ourselves. And then those people become the people that are like, I don't want to ask about my child's curriculum because I don't want i don't want them to get mad at me. And guess what? Your child might be okay, but then the rest of the kids that don't have somebody who was aware are not okay.
00:15:25
Speaker
So I'm a big fan of there's no such thing as other people's kids. It is all of our jobs to protect every child. Do not worry about hurting people's feelings. It is okay to ask for what you need. There is a difference between demanding and asking, and it is also okay to demand things from your child's school.
00:15:43
Speaker
You have to be a mama bear, a papa bear. You have to be a grizzly bear. You are your child's biggest advocate. Do not ever feel worried about hurting someone's feelings. Ever.
00:15:54
Speaker
ever Ever. Ever. And always, always, always message me if you need a pep talk before you go talk to a school. So you're not being mean when you ask for things. Whether it's something as small as, is it possible to have a discount on my coffee?
00:16:07
Speaker
just to build up that practice, or if it's something as big-seeming as, I've been reading more about reading curriculum, and this doesn't really seem to align with the science of reading research. Can you explain it to me?
00:16:21
Speaker
Neither of those things are rude. Both are opportunities for people to say, no, we don't have a discount for coffee, or... If that teacher gets offended by you asking, that's just more information for you. And then we make the next step and we make the next informed decision. You're not coming in saying, hey, I think you're a bad teacher. But I think we have been wired to think that when we ask a question, that's what we're saying. Me saying...
00:16:47
Speaker
um Is it possible to have a discount on this coffee? Is not saying, I don't value you. So anyone that thinks that, that's their problem. So you are the only one that knows your intention. If your intention is to get better at asking for things so that you can be a better advocate for your child and for all children, then great, you know that that's your intention.
00:17:07
Speaker
If my intention were to go out and make the people that are serving me have to take money out of their own pocket, that would be really sick. That is not the intention. And any place that I would ask for a discount or get something for free, i would tip back that amount or more. Actually, i do get a lot of things for free. That sounds so privileged. But I'm very I think I'm very friendly. I didn't know this in my life, which is funny because like a lot of people are like, yeah, you're so friendly. i I'm not like, good morning to everyone on the street, and that's what I think of as friendly. But one time i ran into these people and I was like, how do I know you? And we couldn't figure it out. And then...
00:17:51
Speaker
And then it was like, oh my gosh, we figured it out i was like, you are good friends with my ex. And then they like felt uncomfortable for a minute. And like, how are the wedding plans going? I i heard about the wedding. Congratulations.
00:18:05
Speaker
And then like later, i actually did become friends with those people in a different setting. And they were like, that is so crazy. I would never go up to someone and be like, how do I know you? But we were both looking at each other at this restaurant, you know? Anyway, that I guess was that friend's definition of friendly.
00:18:21
Speaker
So I go to places that I've been before. And so if it's a server I like, like Julian at this one place that I go to at least once a week, I'm always so excited to see him. I ask him about his life. And he usually brings over a treat, an extra coffee, glass of champagne for like celebrating something. And I always tip more than the amount of the item that he gave for free. So a lot of places do have comp wiggle room. I'm definitely not encouraging you to just ask people to give you things. I'm encouraging you to get over your fear of asking because the answer being no is not the end of the world, even though my nervous system tells me that it is.
00:19:01
Speaker
How, you might ask, is this connected to reading? oh I'm so glad you did ask. Because we know, so this morning I was on Al Jazeera, which is a pretty big global news station.
00:19:13
Speaker
They do amazing pieces, amazing journalism. So you probably know that the nation's report card results in 2024 showed us that 67% of fourth graders in the United States cannot read proficiently.
00:19:31
Speaker
That number is way too high. And this is not new information. So here is where asking for things and being bold and taking action comes into play.
00:19:44
Speaker
So we actually have known this for a long time. This is not new information. We started getting this newer, seeming newer information in 2020 because when so many schools went digital,
00:19:56
Speaker
Parents saw and started asking more questions. They saw what was happening in the curriculum. They saw that kids were being told to memorize words or take a look at the picture and guess. And they're like, wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense. They saw more of what was happening in their child's day-to-day and in their schoolwork.
00:20:12
Speaker
So, as we know, nothing gets done unless a whole lot of parents get mad. So these parents started getting loud. And at this point, 15 states have banned this method called the 3-Qing method. So the 3-Qing method means we tell kids to memorize words, look at the shape, look at the first letter, take a guess, look at the picture, what could it be, can you skip it and come back? And anything but actually teaching them how to decode words, right?
00:20:41
Speaker
ah So these parents got so bold that they said something. They were not afraid of hurting someone's feelings. They were not afraid of the answer being no if they said, I need more information on the curriculum. They were not afraid of someone saying no to them when they said,
00:20:58
Speaker
this isn't good enough, i will you do something more at the school? They weren't afraid of the answer being no. And they are the reason that we have so much more information now. We have the podcast Sold a Story, which is excellent. You should listen to that.
The Impact of Literacy-Based Promotion Act
00:21:11
Speaker
But it talks all about this, how how no one is reading and we know how to fix it. We have the research. It's not new. But what is new is parents started asking for more. They did start demanding more. And you can be part of that too. You are one of those parents as well. So if you're listening to this, I know that you want more for all of our kids.
00:21:32
Speaker
But what happened in Mississippi recently is something that I do want to talk about. So for years, Mississippi ranked near the bottom nationally in reading achievement, especially for fourth grade. Remember those fourth graders we talked about that 67% of fourth graders in the United States can't read proficiently?
00:21:50
Speaker
A large number of children were leaving the kindergarten, first, second grade years unable to decode any words. And there were even bigger gaps for low-income students, and we saw that they were continuing to get wider. But in the early twenty ten s the state acknowledged something big. The kids weren't failing. It was not the kids. It was the reading instruction. So they took that ownership. They weren't afraid of hurting people's feelings and saying,
00:22:20
Speaker
ah well, we picked this reading curriculum and it's good. A lot of schools double down. And that is why people don't want to push back. They don't want to get in a fight with their child's school. um But again, it's not even a fight. It's just standing up for your child. So in all kids. So they were able to admit something really big. And I think that's beautiful. Kids aren't failing. Our reading instruction is. And that takes principals, leaders, superintendents, school boards saying,
00:22:48
Speaker
We chose the wrong curriculum. We chose the wrong training for our teachers. And that's brave and scary. But they did that. So around 2013-2014, Mississippi made a system-wide decision to align with the body of research known as the science of reading. It's not a specific curriculum. It's a body of research. Almost 100 years old. This wasn't a single program.
00:23:11
Speaker
And it's not a quick fix. Again, remember we talked about those pathways? It takes time. Okay? Doesn't mean it's not working when you do the one thing and it doesn't change instantly. But they changed policy. They added training and accountability. And everyone worked together. This is where it all comes in, right? Everyone needs to work together. So...
00:23:32
Speaker
Mississippi passed a strong literacy law. It was called the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in 2013, and it required early identification of reading difficulties in kindergarten, first, second, and third grade. It targeted intervention before kids fell far behind, which is what we focus on here at Big City Readers. And it added an option to retain students at the end of third grade if they couldn't read with intensive support, but not as punishment. Retention is what got in the headlines. If you read through the articles and do the digging, it was not the main driver. Again, I'm not a big fan of retention.
00:24:09
Speaker
If the curriculum is not changing. So parents will often ask me how I feel about retention if a kid is struggling. But um I often will say, if they're going to change how they're teaching, then great. And they like want to give that child a second chance. But if they're going to do the same curriculum, there's no evidence that doing the same bad curriculum twice is going to help a child do better. And I really think a lot of psychology needs to go into the decision of retaining a child because, you know, if they're very happy, we don't want to change that. There's a lot of social pressure with retention. So that was what got the headlines. I think it's a hot topic, but it's not really the main driver. So another thing they did was they trained teachers in how reading really works. This is crazy. I literally got a DM today. I'm going to read it to you.
00:24:57
Speaker
Okay. Hi, Beth. I was wondering if you had any knowledge on how a teacher, me, can find professional development that can earn CPDU credits that is science of reading backed. So credits are things that teachers need to get a certain amount each year to keep their teaching license.
00:25:15
Speaker
There are so many webinars and courses that I find that are aligned with the science of reading research, but they don't offer CPD use. Please advise if you have any ideas.
00:25:28
Speaker
I also recently got my master's as a reading specialist. um So, okay, this person got their master's as a reading specialist, which ah many of us are in this boat of we thought that continuing education, any of these programs would give us what we needed, but they didn't. I had to go back to get specific science of reading research trained.
00:25:52
Speaker
And I said, let me think about it. um Also, isn't it crazy that the only ones that are science-backed seem to not count? She said, yes, it pisses me off. I took your course and I loved it. I recommend it to everyone I know. i took it again. and I was like, I wish I could take all of your courses and use them since I enjoy them so much and get so much knowledge from them. Thank you so much.
00:26:15
Speaker
Who was that? Let's see. Lauren. Lauren. Thanks, Lauren. I am so happy to hear that. I am so happy to hear there are so many people out here fighting for kids. So but it feels like so much relief.
00:26:28
Speaker
Okay, so Mississippi invested heavily in teacher training on phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, and language comprehension. Moving away from cueing, guessing at pictures, or in context. Like, that would look like if you're reading this sentence...
00:26:45
Speaker
The dog is at the park. And the child reads it, the dog is at the pork. Because pork and park are about the same shape. um If you're just looking kind of at the first and last letters, you could guess that it's about the same word. So then you would say to a child, well, what would make sense? Is the dog at the pork? um No, a dog would eat pork. So the child might change the sentence to either be the the dog is eating the pork or the dog is at the park. That's 3Qing.
00:27:11
Speaker
Or you might say, look at the picture. do you see any food in that picture? Where is he? And obviously that's not reading. And these are fine strategies if your child is using them to gather information. But this is not reading.
00:27:26
Speaker
I need to be really clear about that. This is not reading. So they moved away from 3Qing. They got proper training, which a lot of schools will just buy a curriculum and not train the teachers. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have proper teacher training, not just buy the curriculum, but support the teachers. Curriculum sits in a box. Teachers teach the kids.
00:27:49
Speaker
Invest in your teachers. Invest in training. Listen to the teachers who are asking for proper training. This is what Mississippi did. They invested heavily in proper teacher training on phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, and language comprehension. They moved away from 3Qing. They said no more guessing, no more looking at pictures, no more using context to try and figure out what that word might mean. They added coaching and ongoing continued professional development, not just one-off workshops. This is my favorite thing to do when a school will hire me at the beginning and my team at the beginning of the year, we'll do a workshop. And then once a quarter, I'll get to go in and observe how it's going in the classroom and then meet with the teachers, tell them what I observe, see what they say, and come up with new specific plans in real time with that teacher.
00:28:42
Speaker
This is huge. This is what we should advocate for. This is what teachers deserve. They deserve a coach. Teachers learned why strategies worked, not just what to do. And that is really important. I trained a school district and the superintendent was like, nobody seems to get that it matters. And I think that's huge. I could tell you exactly what to do, but if you don't understand how this works and why it matters, it's not going to last. Okay, so Mississippi also used strong universal screeners. So schools were required to screen all kindergarten through third grade students many times throughout the year. They use that data to act, not just file reports. That is also very important to note. So ah a lot of times we just report and, oh my god gosh, I've talked with a parent today. I assessed her child a few weeks ago.
00:29:34
Speaker
She was concerned. The school said
The Power of Systemic Change in Education
00:29:37
Speaker
he's in the average reading group. I assessed him. He is two and a half years behind. I couldn't believe it. But then I'm like, well, maybe he is average in the class and all of the kids are two and a half years behind.
00:29:51
Speaker
So when we just file the reports and don't act on that data, what is the point? So good job, Mississippi. And then they provide provided immediate and structured intervention with struggling readers. They stopped doing something that so many schools do They stopped the wait and see failure loop.
00:30:16
Speaker
And that was so amazing. So Mississippi, you are crushing it. Okay, and so they also align the curriculum and intervention. So a lot of times there'll be curriculum in the classroom and then if kids get pulled out for intervention, they're doing something different. Or there's one thing happening in one classroom and across the hall, the same, it'll be first grade classroom and first grade classroom. Teachers are doing two different things. So they align the curriculum and they align the intervention. They didn't just say, let's teach phonics. They evaluated the instructional materials they had. They prioritized explicit, systematic instruction.
00:30:51
Speaker
This is crucial. That means we are explicit. This is the letter A. The sound is ah, like the first sound in apple, and the middle sound in... Bad. Systematic. We follow an order. We don't just teach the alphabet in ABC order. We follow a specific order that makes sense to how the brain learns how to read.
00:31:11
Speaker
And they supported districts in choosing materials aligned with reading science research. So seems like an obvious one, but it was a big one. Here's a really, really important part. The really important thing that they did.
00:31:25
Speaker
They stayed consistent. These gains didn't happen overnight. Just like we were talking about the rejection and wanting to rewire our brain, it does not happen in one day. These gains with reading did not happen overnight.
00:31:38
Speaker
Mississippi stuck with the plan across multiple governors and education leaders. They avoided chasing trends. They stuck with this research-backed plan that they that they chose. And they let teachers get really good at one evidence-based approach instead of constantly switching. So they stuck with it for several years.
00:32:00
Speaker
And do you know what happened? was By 2019, Mississippi ranked number one in the nation for fourth graders in reading gains on the nation's report card.
00:32:12
Speaker
Let that sink in for a second.
00:32:15
Speaker
And by 2019, Mississippi outperformed many wealthier states and showed especially strong gains for Black students and students from low-income families. Remember how we talked about how it might not be a problem for your child, but it's a problem for other kids? There's no such thing as other people's kids. Learning to read is life or death for some students.
00:32:38
Speaker
These are the students we are talking about. Illiteracy is directly connected to anxiety, depression, incarceration, homelessness. And we have what it takes to change it. It is the most solvable social justice issue of our time. And Mississippi just said, here is our case study.
00:32:56
Speaker
Check it out. Look what we did over the last six, seven years. Oh, gosh. Why did I just say six, seven? Anyway, they showed ah in by 2019, Mississippi showed especially strong gains for Black students and students from low-income families. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, that the nation's report card data, confirmed this growth. It wasn't just their statistics. It wasn't just a trick. that, like, they could alter their
Final Thoughts on Advocacy and Asking
00:33:20
Speaker
statistics. It showed up in the classrooms.
00:33:23
Speaker
So here, let's cover some misconceptions. People might say, well, Mississippi just held kids back because that was what the headlines kind of looked like. That is false. Retention without instruction, proper instruction does not work. Mississippi paired retention, used sparingly, with better teaching, better training and support for teachers, better materials, better early intervention. The instruction changed first. They didn't just hold kids back.
00:33:50
Speaker
The instruction changed first. The instruction has to change for retention to actually be beneficial. So why does this matter for parents everywhere? Mississippi proved that reading failure is, in fact, preventable.
00:34:06
Speaker
Early explicit instruction works. Teacher knowledge matters more than shiny new programs. Systems, not individuals, not teachers, not your principal, systems, not kids, are the problem and must change.
00:34:27
Speaker
This is why the reading epidemic conversation exploded nationwide and why states across the country are now revising literacy laws. I would love to see globally us revise literacy laws, obviously.
00:34:40
Speaker
So, wow, I feel like we really connected it. How asking for something as simple as a discount on your coffee ah is connected to changing the trajectory of all kids in the United States.
00:34:56
Speaker
Mississippi did not back down. If you think, how could I be one person that makes change? I've been there. Seriously. I am a person, again, that sometimes is like, I can't say I don't like this nail color. Can you fix it? That feels so rude. It is not rude. And you're not going to be able to ask for big things if you can't ask for little things. Show your nervous system that it is okay to ask for things. Show your nervous system that it okay to say, i don't like this. in little things. And that is one of the building blocks that help in the bigger things, right? Same thing with learning to read. We don't just hand a kid Harry Potter. We start with just one word. Is your just one word asking if you can have a discount on your oil change? No. Is your just one word asking for a discount somewhere or asking if you can be a guest on someone's podcast? Where can you start to show your brain and body that it's not scary to ask? So then you take that evidence and you slowly let it build up and build those pathways in your brain. And then one day, maybe you're like, actually, I got to ask my school about this reading curriculum. And I'm not afraid to ask because I am standing up for kids. And it's not mean to ask for what we need or what other people need.
00:36:15
Speaker
Okay, you guys, share this with a friend. Like, rate, review, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Apple, Spotify, the Play on Words podcast. Also, we're on YouTube. So if you want to watch on video, check it out on YouTube. Play On Words with Miss Beth from Big City Readers. If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out by email, hello at bigcityreaders.com or on Instagram at bigcityreaders. I am always hanging out in my DMs. I'm here for a pep talk. I'm here to help make something feel a little easier to understand. i want to make sure you know you are not alone. i have your back. We're in this together.
00:36:51
Speaker
I'll see you next time.