Progressive Policy Institute’s Rachel Canter on Mississippi’s Academic Gains

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Mary Tamer of MassPotential speak with Rachel Canter, Director of Education Policy for the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools project and founder of Mississippi First, about Mississippi’s remarkable rise in K–12 student achievement and the policy reforms that helped drive it. Drawing on her experience as a former Teach For America teacher and longtime education advocate, Canter reflects on the leadership, accountability, and strategic reforms that helped Mississippi transform from one of the nation’s lowest-performing states to one of its fastest-improving on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. She discusses the science of reading, the debate between phonics and whole language instruction, and what schools must do to rebuild academic rigor in literacy, STEM, and civics. Canter also explores the importance of exposing students to great literature and roots music from William Faulkner and Delta bluesmen like Robert Johnson, drawing on Mississippi’s rich cultural legacy, and reflects on how lessons from Civil Rights era figures, including Emmett Till and Fannie Lou Hamer, can strengthen civics education today. She concludes by sharing policy recommendations for governors, legislators, educators, and parents seeking dramatic and lasting improvements in student outcomes nationwide.