After the continued decline in US literacy rates, which experts say began even before the pandemic, industry and government leaders have sounded the alarm to improve reading comprehension and skills in other crucial areas, such as science and math. Thankfully, when coordination, proper instruction, and the right assessments meet, everything is possible.
That’s not wishful thinking, but the true story the education system now calls “the Mississippi Miracle.” After historically ranking at the bottom of the country’s literacy rates, a private donor invested in the state’s efforts to improve education from the bottom up in 2000. From then, it’s been on an upward trajectory that propelled it to ninth place in the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) by 2024.
What’s more, the International Literacy Association (ILA) also recognizes the importance of formative assessments to evaluate reading comprehension, which helps teachers make data-backed decisions regarding reading instruction — heavily applied in Mississippi to improve literacy outcomes.
In light of Read Across America month this past March, let’s talk about the importance of this celebration, and take the Mississippi Miracle as an example of literacy improvements through assessments.
Learning from the Mississippi Miracle To Improve the US Literacy Rate
For Mississippi, it all started when a concerned private donor decided to invest a large sum of money in the education sector at the beginning of the century. The first issue to tackle? Teacher training. They emphasized the adoption of the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) instructional model, backed by the science of reading, which teaches reading through phonics.
Training took place for several years before integrating state-wide curriculum changes that could assess the effectiveness of the new reading instruction. Beyond shifting their approach from the bottom up, testing that initially set students back made all the difference.
In 2013, the state passed a law that required third-graders to pass a reading assessment or be held back until they could pass the test. This meant literacy was no longer age-based, but rather skills-based, adding a new level of rigor that pushed the entire education sector to improve its outcomes. This grade was specifically chosen for testing as it’s a likely indicator of future academic success and, consequently, fewer drop-outs, setting students up with the right toolkit to continue their education.
After this hard work, Mississippi went from one of the lowest-ranked states for literacy rates to ninth place — the statistic is even more impressive when weighted with other demographics like poverty.
The Impact of Improved Reading on US Literacy Rates
Mississippi became a beacon of hope for other lower-ranked states like Louisiana, which have adopted the same instruction and testing model and seen improvements.
As such, it’s safe to say the science of reading — backed by decades of research and, now, real results — is crucial in improving literacy rates. This is also the reason why Read Across America has never been more important.
Officially observed on March 2nd, 2026, this celebration encourages students to read for the pleasure of it, highlighting stories from diverse backgrounds to foster greater inclusion from a young age. Through it, children can feel inspired by stories they identify with, and further recognize the value of reading. The National Education Association (NEA), which created the celebration and organizes it every year, also sends a message of community-building to strengthen literacy efforts by actively discussing stories and improving reading comprehension in groups.
Through books, the NEA also seeks to improve US literacy rates in the digital age. The organization highlights the importance of giving students physical copies that replace screens and elicit enjoyment akin to video games, helping them make sense of stories with reading-aloud activities and more.
But books are more than just stories, fictional or non-fictional. By immersing themselves in these worlds, students learn values like empathy, resilience, and kindness, and develop a moral compass guided by numerous voices of wisdom they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
At a time of concern for literacy rates, these initiatives hold down the fort and help spread the crucial role of reading in the nation’s learning outcomes.
Building Data-Packed Formative Assessments
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Improving US literacy rates year by year takes small, frequent efforts that eventually add up to positive results. While teachers instruct their students in specific science of reading techniques to raise their reading level, it’s crucial to know where they stand periodically. And there’s nothing like formative assessments to find out.
The ILA’s recognition of the importance of formative reading assessments to understand reading comprehension levels proves their worth. Compared to summative tests that evaluate students’ knowledge of a subject to get a final grade, formative exams, graded or not, tell a teacher whether their students are making progress or need extra help with a given skill or topic.
The difference is also in their frequency. While summative assessments might happen at the end of a module or school year, formative ones should be performed regularly so teachers have data to compare student development over time. From this information, they can tweak their instruction methods and other key classroom activities that influence their lessons, allowing students to advance.
Although frequent testing sounds exhausting for teachers — they definitely don’t need more tasks than those they already have to juggle with — today’s edtech tools can make assessment building much easier and faster. As a result, teachers can get more done without sacrificing quality.
For instance, some platforms grade students’ writing assignments and return useful suggestions to improve their answers. Others offer tools to quickly build tests. Quizli is one example, allowing teachers to scan their textbooks, PDFs, or images, let AI turn the content into data, and ask it to write questions based on grade level, state standards, length, type of question, and more. After students take the test, Quizli optionally uploads grades to the district SIS, already saving teachers plenty of time they can dedicate to more critical tasks, or simply to rest.
Collecting this data in the platform and seeing student, classroom, or even grade-level results over time is key to informing teachers about the progress of their students’ literacy journey — another feature Quizli provides.
US literacy rates should be seen beyond a number that the nation needs to raise. The reality is that literacy affects everyone’s daily lives, from economic consequences to the critical thinking skills required to be functional citizens of society. Through national efforts, such as Read Across America, and applying tried-and-true techniques like the science of reading in schools, are efforts that need to spread across every state so that there is truly no child left behind. More frequent testing to gauge student progress is also essential in moving the needle forward.
Trying to make test-building easy but finding it complex? Schedule a demo with the Quizli team today and trial it at your school completely for free!
