The Delta Issue #112

Want the “Mississippi Miracle” in Your State? Start Here.

Subscribe to The Delta on Spotify or Apple Podcasts for more conversations like this.

Hi all, Kunjan here.

By now, you’ve probably heard some version of the “Mississippi story.”

In 2013, Mississippi ranked 49th in the country in fourth-grade reading. Six years later, its fourth graders had reached the national average. The turnaround was so striking that it earned a nickname: the “Mississippi Miracle.”

This week, I invited Kymyona Burk, Ed.D. , one of the people at the center of Mississippi’s literacy progress.

Kymyona served as Mississippi’s State Literacy Director, where she helped lead implementation of the state’s Literacy-Based Promotion Act. Today, she’s a Senior Policy Fellow at ExcelinEd , helping states across the country turn literacy policy into better instruction for kids. She’s also telling the story of Mississippi’s work in her new book, Mississippi’s Literacy Revolution.

In our conversation, Kymyona takes us inside the years of sustained implementation behind Mississippi’s results, from professional development and coaching to building the capacity of the state education agency itself.

For states looking to Mississippi as a model for turning literacy around, this conversation is a good reminder that behind the headlines, there was a whole system—from the state agency to the classroom—working together to move the needle for kids.

Watch the first 15 minutes of our conversation below.

Want to keep watching? Check out the full conversation here, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

The transcript below has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Kunjan Narechania

Welcome to The Delta. I’m Kunjan Narechania, CEO of Watershed Advisors.

For years, Mississippi sat near the bottom of the country in reading. Beginning in 2013, the state launched a major effort to change that—training teachers differently, putting literacy coaches in schools, identifying struggling readers earlier, and building stronger state support for implementation.

One of the people at the center of that work is my guest today, Dr. Kymyona Burk. Kymyona served as Mississippi’s State Literacy Director, where she led implementation of the state’s Literacy-Based Promotion Act. Today, she’s a Senior Policy Fellow at ExcelinEd, helping states turn literacy policy into changes in classroom practice. She’s also telling Mississippi’s story in her new book, Mississippi’s Literacy Revolution.

Kymyona has said many times that what happened in Mississippi wasn’t a miracle. It was years of sustained implementation. So today, I want to get underneath the headline: What did Mississippi actually do, what made it work, and what can other states learn from it?

Kymyona, thank you so much for joining me.

Kymyona Burk

Thank you so much for having me. It’s really an honor.

Kunjan

One of the most visible pieces of Mississippi’s strategy was literacy coaching. Since then, “invest in coaches” has become a mantra for how states can turn around reading outcomes.

At the same time, putting coaches in schools and building an effective coaching system are two different things. Can you paint a picture of what a really good state literacy coaching strategy looks like? What is the coach doing on a typical morning in a school?

Kymyona

Coaching has been one of our strongest levers for moving student achievement, but it has to be coupled with professional development.

Early on, our coaches were trying to teach teachers the science of reading while also coaching them on how to put it into practice. Things accelerated when we began training teachers in the science of reading first. Teachers came in with the knowledge, and coaches could focus on helping them apply it in the classroom.

On a typical Tuesday morning, a coach and teacher have already co-planned the lesson and agreed on what the coach will observe—maybe pacing or a phonological awareness activity. Afterward, they meet to discuss feedback and next steps, whether that’s additional resources, modeling a lesson, or reteaching.

Eventually, they look at student data to see what worked and what needs to change. It’s an established routine of co-planning, observation, feedback, and using data to determine what comes next.

Kunjan

People mean so many different things when they say “coaching.” You’re describing coaching as a complement to professional learning, with very specific things coaches are looking for and ways they’re jumping in with teachers.

How often does a coach see any given teacher?

Kymyona

It really depends on what the teacher needs. We call that differentiated coaching, or coaching on a continuum.

Let’s say I’m a coach assigned to a school with four teachers in each grade, K–3. That’s 16 teachers. Am I supposed to spend the same amount of time with all 16? No.

When coaches first go into schools, they need a relationship with the principal. The principal may identify new teachers or teachers they want the coach to pay close attention to.

But coaches also have to do what we call “observations without the clipboard”—going into classrooms, observing, identifying what teachers might need to work on, and establishing a plan.

You’ll have veteran teachers who still need help, and veteran teachers who are already really good at what they’re doing. You still want to monitor and support them, but they’re at another place on the continuum. You don’t need to see them every day just to check a box.

For other teachers, you have to determine: Does this teacher need help with classroom management before we can even be effective in teaching? Do they need resources? Do they need modeling? What kind of coaching support does this specific teacher need?

It’s really a customizable effort around supporting teachers and meeting them where they are.

Kunjan

I imagine you had to do a lot at the state level to make those coaches effective. Tell us about that.

Kymyona

When we first began this effort, the state had a goal to hire 75 coaches.

We hired only 22 coaches.

People were asking, “You mean to tell me we can’t find 75 people to coach?” But the agency prioritized quality over quantity.

Coaches needed the knowledge to establish credibility with teachers, but they also needed to build strong relationships. I always say you need the knowledge, and you also need to be able to play well with other adults. We can teach you the science of reading, but how you build trust and get buy-in is extremely important.

Once coaches were hired, we continued their professional development through monthly meetings and regional learning communities. Our coaches actually had a coach, too.

That structure continues today, 13 years later. Coaches are continuously supported so they can better support teachers.

Kunjan

You’ve now seen models across the country as states try to learn from Mississippi. What do you observe when states are getting coaching right, and where are they missing the mark?

Kymyona

There shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach. States are different, and their approaches aren’t all going to look like Mississippi’s.

In Mississippi, the state education agency deploys coaches to schools based on data, and their time is protected. Principals can’t pull them for bus duty, substitute teaching, or other responsibilities. That matters because coaches need time to observe teachers, plan, and follow up.

In other places, coaches may be hired at the district level but aren’t actually in schools modeling and co-teaching. Or they split their time as reading specialists, which limits the time they can dedicate to coaching.

There are different models, but the places I think will have the best outcomes set consistent qualifications for coaches, intentionally identify the schools that need support, and make sure coaches are on the ground in those schools.

Kunjan

The policy landscape has changed so much since Mississippi began this work. Today, the vast majority of states have adopted some form of science-of-reading policy, yet national reading results are still deeply concerning.

You now work with states across the country. What separates the places where literacy policy is changing instruction from the places where implementation is getting stuck?

Kymyona:

Some of it comes down to infrastructure.

When Dr. Carey Wright came to the Mississippi Department of Education, she realized we had the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, the Early Learning Collaborative Act, and a new A–F accountability system—but the Department wasn’t staffed to support districts in implementing them.

We were known as an auditing agency. We were usually only in schools when something was wrong. She set out to build an agency that could actually serve schools and districts, establishing an Office of Early Childhood, making the literacy office permanent, and creating an Office of Intervention Services.

So when I look at states struggling with implementation, I usually start with what’s happening at the Department of Education. Are they sending out guidance and hoping it works? Or do they have people on the ground who can monitor progress, support schools, look at the data, and course-correct? That middle layer is really important.

There’s another group we don’t talk about enough: school board members. In states with local control, boards are making decisions about curriculum and assessments, but we haven’t always given them the knowledge to evaluate whether those materials are high quality and aligned.

The same goes for states with unions. Policymakers, departments of education, advocacy groups, and unions should be having these conversations from the beginning. When people are brought in early, you can build understanding around what’s changing, why it matters, and what support they’ll need.

Kunjan

I think you’re pointing to an important part of the work that gets overlooked: we have to build coalitions with everybody who touches kids.

That means policymakers, advocates, educators, unions, and parents.

You’ve gone from the classroom to leading literacy work for a state to helping states across the country translate policy into better instruction.

What have you learned about implementation that you didn’t know when you first started this work in Mississippi?

Kymyona

It leads us back to coaching.

I didn’t realize how important it would be to have someone who was not your evaluator—someone you could be honest with and say, “I just don’t know how to do this.”

Coaching fills the space between knowing what you’re supposed to do as an educator and actually doing it. It gives you someone who can help you get better at your craft.

I also think the culture has shifted toward one of learning. When I started teaching in the late ’90s, you went into your classroom, closed your door, and did your thing. In some places, there was data shaming: “This teacher’s kids are doing well. Why aren’t yours?”

Now, it’s more, “This teacher’s students are doing really well with this standard. Let’s have them show us what they’re doing.”

That culture of learning extends beyond classrooms. States and superintendents are learning from each other and sharing what works.

I think that’s what we’ve been missing in education: opening our doors, learning from each other, and helping others learn what we’ve learned along the way.

Kunjan

I think that point gets overlooked. You built a system to help teachers become excellent at their craft, but you also built a learning system—one that could understand what was happening with teachers and kids and use that information to improve at every level.

The operating model was: Be clear about what the teacher needs to do. Be clear about what the coach needs to do. Get data on what’s working and what isn’t. And use it to keep improving the whole system.

Kymyona

I think you’re exactly right.

Kunjan

Kymyona, thank you so much for joining me. And congratulations on your new book, Mississippi’s Literacy Revolution.

For those of you watching, you can find this conversation on The Delta on LinkedIn, and you can listen to the full conversation by searching The Delta on your favorite podcast platform.

Thanks so much for joining us.