In a Moss Point school conference room, teachers took on the role of students — reading, discussing and analyzing a scientific passage in small groups. As conversation quieted, all eyes turned to the instructor.
“According to your discussion, what is the most important genetic trait to consider when bringing plants into the United States?” asked Laurie Lee, a senior research associate at the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University.
Some teachers chose fertility; others pointed to origin. The structured debate anchored a mock lesson designed to model a key strategy from Mississippi’s new Adolescent Literacy Pilot program — an initiative for grades 4-8 that brings trainers into schools to demonstrate evidence-based reading practices.
Lee said the training helps teachers experience the approach as students would — a perspective that can deepen their understanding of how and why strategies work.
“If students or teachers implement these kinds of practices, then it naturally leads to student engagement,” she said. “Students (are) actually reading the text on their own and with partners and talking about that text in groups.”
Targeting a middle-grade gap
Michelle Nowell, associate state superintendent of curriculum and instruction, emphasized the pilot is not a new curriculum. Instead, it trains teachers in literacy strategies that can be layered into English language arts, science and social studies instruction.
The idea is to increase how often students read, talk and write about what they’re learning — especially as they move into middle grades, where texts become denser and content more specialized.
“We’re trying to make a shift in middle school,” Nowell said. “(Rather than) lecturing in these three content areas, it will be small group, engaging from student to student and interaction with the teacher.”
Nowell said that shift is aimed at a closing a growing literacy gap in middle grades. Under Mississippi law, students must read at or above grade level by the end of third grade to move on to fourth — a policy known as the “reading gate.”
Last school year, 85% of third graders passed the test, but state officials say many begin to fall behind in later grades, especially middle school.
“Through (the Literacy-Based Promotion Act), we have the emphasis on K-3,” Nowell said. “Then with our scores across the state — fourth through eighth (grade) — you see that drop.”
National and state assessments reflect that trend. On the 2024 National Assessment of Academic Progress, 32% of Mississippi’s fourth graders scored at or above proficient in reading — above the national average — but only 23% of eighth graders met that benchmark, below the national average.
State test scores dipped slightly last year, with English language arts showing the lowest proficiency rates.
The percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA was:
— Grade 3: 49%
— Grade 4: 52%
— Grade 5: 56%
— Grade 6: 47%
— Grade 7: 37%
— Grade 8: 42%
Push for proficiency
Moss Point is one of three districts selected for the pilot, along with Kosciusko and Wayne County. Mississippi Department of Education officials wanted early data before seeking legislative support for a $9 million statewide rollout.
Lee’s training sessions focus on strategies like vocabulary instruction, note-taking techniques and a method called “text coding,” which asks students to mark and annotate texts with evidence to support their ideas. The approach shifts classroom learning toward student discussion and away from teacher-led lectures.
Debra Dumas, a sixth-grade science teacher at Magnolia Middle School in Moss Point, plans to bring text coding into her lessons. She wants students to look for cause and effect, or identify fact and opinion, in science passages.
“Once you say, ‘reread a text,’ you get a lot of moans and groans,” Dumas said. “But in this context, they will not even know that they’re rereading … I can do this all day, every day, in my class.”
In addition to classroom teachers, the pilot includes school administrators so they can support implementation. District coaches and interventionists are also involved where available.
David Graves, director of curriculum for Moss Point School District, said the district is working to apply these techniques across subjects to boost overall literacy and test performance. Last year, Moss Point’s English language proficiency scores trailed the state average by about 14 percentage points.
Still, the district improved from a D rating in 2020-21 to a B, with above-average growth in English among low-performing students.
“We have a lot of room to grow so far as getting students to be proficient in that particular area, which is why we welcome all the training that we can get,” Graves said.
Graves added that literacy challenges aren’t limited to English classrooms.
“A lot of times … students will struggle in a science test, and it’ll be a reading comprehension issue — not necessarily them understanding the science concept,” Graves said.
Dumas said some of her students come to sixth grade reading below grade level.
“When you have issues with vocabulary and comprehension, you also have issues with writing,” she said. “Diving deeper into the text in this way — it will help students who struggle with all three of those things.”
Looking ahead
At Moss Point, the first adolescent-literacy training ran in early November, with six sessions scheduled through the winter. Teachers will meet in small groups for continued training and then design and deliver lessons in their own classrooms.
If lawmakers approve funding during the 2026 legislative session, the statewide rollout could begin in August 2026, with potential expansion to include high schools.
Nowell said the pilot is the next step in what the department calls Mississippi’s “marathon” — not a miracle. Sustained progress, she said, requires sustained support.
“We know when students are engaged and they can connect something to prior knowledge, they’re more likely to recall it and be able to apply that knowledge,” she said. “We’re just hoping to make a big shift and help the students in Mississippi by doing this.”
