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The Beacon Fall 2021
Ask an Expert
The Magic of Mississippi’s Literacy Change Q&A with Kristen Wynn, Mississippi State Literacy Director
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cross the nation, there has been a heightened focus on How did you become invested in applying the literacy and equity as the research, policy, and media Science of Reading in classrooms across Mississippi? communities emphasize the critical importance of highMy initial encounter with the Science of Reading happened in my quality, scientifically-based reading education. In recent years, Emily role as an intervention specialist. At that time, we didn't really refer Hanford, an investigative journalist and senior producer and to it as the Science of Reading. To us, it was best practices, and we correspondent for APM Reports, exposed the fractures in reading knew that our students needed to be skilled readers, so they needed education across the United States. Hanford (2018) contended, to be able to crack the code. I remember in 2010, Deb Glaser, who “The resistance [to research-based reading instruction in elementary worked with Louisa Moats to create the first LETRS (Language schools] is the result of beliefs about reading that have been deeply Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), came to our held in the educational establishment for decades, even though district and trained all our reading interventionists. We thought this those beliefs have been proven wrong by scientists over and over is something that we did not learn in our teacher prep program. again.” In the midst of the national discourse What did you do with this new about the detrimental status quo in the knowledge about the Science country’s reading education, Mississippi “We talk about a focus of Reading? emerged with a spark of optimism toward I believe past experiences prepare us for on literacy, but you can't continued growth. In fact, the Mississippi future purposes. Later, in 2013, when Department of Education launched a new I was hired as a state literacy coach, the have a focus on literacy conversation when the 2019 National department procured LETRS as our Assessment of Educational Progress or create this vision for statewide literacy professional development (NAEP) results highlighted an increase in system. That is when we were able to take literacy for your state literacy outcomes for their fourth and a deep dive into the Science of Reading. eighth grade students. The growth in the We were learning about the reading rope, if you don't involve your NAEP scores—which only provides a the simple view of reading, and other snapshot of the data—was attributed to an community, your conceptual models aligned to the science intense focus on literacy, spanning changes around it. We knew that every teacher across policy, professional development, families, and your other needed this information in Mississippi infrastructural support, and school stakeholders in your efforts.” because in our state, a lot of teachers were implementation. trained in whole language concepts and Meet Kristen Wynn, Mississippi’s State practices. Literacy Director and Windward’s 2021 Fall Community Lecturer. Ms. Wynn spoke with Danielle Scorrano for the September 2021 What are the major literacy and dyslexia policies in Mississippi? episode of the Research Education ADvocacy (READ) Podcast. We have four key policies or key pieces of legislation that help to Highlighted here are selected excerpts from the full interview, which explore how Ms. Wynn learned about the Science of Reading build our focus on literacy across our state: (1) The Early Learning Collaborative Act, (2) The Literacy-Based Promotion Act, (3) a and showcases how her team led the adoption of professional development systems toward implementing research-based practices kindergarten readiness assessment, and (4) dyslexia scholarships. The first is our Early Learning Collaborative Act, and that came in every classroom across the state. The entire conversation is around the same time as our Literacy-Based Promotion Act in available on www.readpodcast.org or on your favorite podcast platform. 2013. This act established Pre-K programs in underserved areas across our state. We also had the Literacy-Based Promotion Act and our kindergarten readiness assessment. Our public Pre-K and Note: All information and insights shared in the Q&A demonstrate the expertise and views of our interviewees.
