New York Times article - How Mississippi Transformed Its Schools From Worst to Best

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In Kim Luckett-Langston’s first year as principal of Hazlehurst Elementary School, one of the lowest performing schools in what had been one of the lowest performing states, she quickly diagnosed the problem.

Children at her school, outside Jackson, Miss., were suffering from what she calls A.B.T.: “Ain’t been taught.”

Kindergartners arrived not knowing their letters from their numbers. After a few years in school, they were still far behind. A decade ago, just 12 percent of Hazlehurst students were reading on grade level.

Today, Hazlehurst has clawed that figure to 35 percent. And Mississippi has emerged as one of the best places in the country for a poor child to get an education.

Mississippi has gone from 49th in the country on national tests in 2013, to a top 10 state for fourth graders learning to read — even as test scores have fallen almost everywhere else.

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,”.