M Is for Marathon, Not Miracle: How Mississippi Achieved Literacy Success for Students Through Smart Implementation

March 31, 3–4:30 p.m. ET
M Is for Marathon, Not Miracle: How Mississippi Achieved Literacy Success for Students Through Smart Implementation 
Earlier this year, the New York Times ran a feature on Mississippi and how the state “transformed its schools from worst to best.” The article asks and reveals answers to a very important question — “What is it doing right?” Asking what is going right is also central to the GLR Learning Tuesdays new series, “Precursors to Success and Impact,” where we plan to examine “bright spot” communities, their “big bet” strategies, and what they are doing right to carefully and intentionally implement key strategies and interventions to achieve measurable outcomes for students. Launched last month, attendees of the first session had the opportunity to learn about the National Implementation Research Network’s approach to “active implementation” and gained an understanding of the key “drivers” that facilitate and ensure the success of education initiatives. On March 31, we are excited to review the “Mississippi Marathon” to learn what the state’s Department of Education, school district leaders, and educators are doing on a daily basis to achieve success. This incredible growth in the state has mistakenly been termed a “miracle” when it is actually a marathon of carefully executed steps and system changes that we look forward to learning about in this session. 
Panelists: Kelley Bendheim, ExcelinEd; Kim Benton, former Mississippi State Superintendent of Education; Adrian Hammitte, Ph.D., Jefferson County School District, MS; Tyler Hansford, Ed.D., Union Public School District, MS; Angela Rutherford, Ph.D., School of Education, University of Mississippi; Gray Tollison, Mississippi Senate.
Moderator: John Gomperts, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.