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OPINION: Four ways that Mississippi is teaching more children to read well

The Hechinger Report

The Magnolia State has been making steady progress on NAEP since 2005. Among them: better teacher preparation and professional development for elementary reading; higher academic standards; state assessments aligned with NAEP’s expectations for students; and steady, consistent work toward the state’s strategic goals.

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Charters felt pressured to promise miraculous progress — but none met the targets

The Hechinger Report

In 2008, a few years after Hurricane Katrina, school officials in Louisiana asked aspiring charter-school leader Andrew Shahan to consider taking over the failing Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School in New Orleans’ Upper 9th Ward. Related: A new movement to treat troubled children as ‘sad, not bad’.