PASTOR COREY BROOKS: Phonics fixed Mississippi’s schools—so why is Chicago still failing its kids?

As I walk Across Mississippi In my Walk Across America campaign to help reverse the fortunes of Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, I see something powerful unfolding. This state, often dismissed as backward by other parts of America, has turned its schools into engines of progress. Children are no longer trapped in failing schools, but are moving towards a promising future. Meanwhile, on Chicago’s South Side, the schools in my neighborhood continue to fail kids. The contrast could not be more stark, and it poses a difficult question: If Mississippi is able to achieve such enormous gains, why does a city like Chicago, with far greater resources, continue to fail its children?

The stereotype that the South is ignorant while the North is enlightened is crumbling before my eyes.

Mississippi shift, often The so-called “Mississippi Miracle” is no coincidence. In 2013, the state ranked 49th in fourth-grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. By 2024, fourth graders ranked ninth in the nation in reading and 16th in math. After adjusting for demographics and poverty, Mississippi fourth graders ranked first nationally in reading and math, according to the Urban Institute. The state achieved its highest rates ever for students scoring proficient or advanced across grades and subjects tested. Fourth-grade reading proficiency has reached levels where Mississippi students outperform the national average for the first time. Black fourth graders rose to third in the nation in both reading and math, while low-income and Hispanic students ranked among the top performers nationally in key categories.

Here’s the secret behind Mississippi’s education miracle — and why it didn’t happen by accident

basis? Literacy Promotion Act of 2013, which imposed Evidence-based phonics teachingand early identification of struggling readers, literacy coaches, and retention in third grade for students who are not reading at grade level.

We cannot wait for broken systems to fix themselves. At Project HOOD in Chicago, we will work to create a model that equips children with skills, faith, and opportunity — something Mississippi proves is possible when priorities are aligned.

Former State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright stressed the intentional work behind it: “Educators do not describe these accomplishments as a ‘miracle’ because we know that Mississippi’s progress in education is the result of Strong policies“The effective implementation of a comprehensive statewide strategy, and years of hard work from the state to the classroom level.”

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Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves celebrated the sustained gains, noting how conservative reforms and Focus on phonetics It made Mississippi a national model. Even with a slight decline in state accountability scores for 2024-25 — 80.1% of schools and 87.2% of school districts receive a grade of C or higher, down from the previous year — the long-term trajectory shows what evidence-based reform can achieve, even in a state with high poverty rates.

By contrast, Dallas Elementary School in Woodlawn neighborhood in Chicago – at the heart of the community I serve – presents the opposite picture. The school, which serves mostly Black and low-income students in grades pre-K through eighth grade, ranks in the bottom 50% of Illinois elementary schools. In recent data, only about 1% to 5% of students scored proficient in math, and 3% in reading, on state assessments. In the 2024-2025 school year, only 3.9% were proficient or better in math and 13.8% in English language arts — well below Chicago Public Schools averages (27.3% in math, 42.8% in ELA) and state averages (38.5% in math, 53.1% in ELA). The rate of chronic absenteeism remains high, often between 25% and 40%, and the school struggles across subgroups of students. It’s rated as “commendable” in the Illinois system, but those numbers don’t lie. Too many children leave without the basic skills they need to succeed.

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That’s why Project HOOD is building the Center for Leadership and Economic Opportunity near this elementary school. The $45 million center will include a private Christian school for boys from single-parent families, and I am working to learn as much as I can from Mississippi’s success so our school can follow a similar model. I am driven by the urgent need to reverse these fortunes. We cannot wait for broken systems to fix themselves. We will create a model that equips children with skills, faith, and opportunity — something Mississippi proves is possible when priorities are aligned.

The contrast between Mississippi and Chicago is so stark that I am tempted to describe what is happening in Chicago as criminal. It reduces educational malpractice. Mississippi has succeeded thanks to clear standards, retraining teachers in the science of reading, accountability through letter grades, and the courage to hold students back until they master the basics — policies rooted in what works, not ideology. Chicago, despite massive funding and talent, remains mired in bureaucracy, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates.Resist proven methods and excuses about poverty. It didn’t help that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson focused on blaming the specter of white supremacy rather than doing the real work and confronting academic failure head-on.

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This is true backwardness, not the South, which has shown the wisdom to embrace evidence rather than excuses. And from these roads in Mississippi, the message is clear: the chains of low expectations can be broken anywhere — through bold policy, hard work, and belief in children’s potential.

Mississippi is the proof. Chicago can follow. Project HOOD will help lead the way.

Click here to read more from Pastor Corey Brooks