Questions About The Validity Of Her “Mississippi Miracle” And Recent Overreach Of Local Power Give a Clear Answer
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If you research Mohammed Choudhury today, you’ll find out that the disgraced former Maryland Superintendent is the new Deputy Superintendent of Leading and Learning for the Fort Worth Independent School District in Texas. If that sounds like deja vu, that’s because before he came to Maryland and became the State Superintendent of Schools, that’s where he worked among other places.
Choudhury resigned in 2023 because he no longer had the support of the Maryland State Board of Education due to allegations of maintaining a toxic work environment as well as questionable transparency regarding reporting of Maryland state test scores. Certainly, his desire to control all the local districts and to hide from accountability forced him out. It didn’t help that he was arrogant and rude with EVERYONE, including powerful members of the State Legislature:
In the wake of his resignation, the Maryland State Board of Education named Carey Wright as the interim Superintendent, supposedly because she was completely different from Choudhury. She was supposed to be reasonable, academically focused, and a person who valued working together with districts rather than taking tyrannical control. She is also an older white woman and Choudhury is the son of immigrants from Bangladesh. Certainly, grandmotherly Wright looks and acts like she would never cross the same lines Choudhury did. She looks like my third-grade teacher, Ms. Cooksey!
As we know, appearances can be deceiving.
Wright came with the normal pedigree for a high-level education bureaucrat; a BA, MEd, and EdD from the University of Maryland, College Park and then experience as a consultant for Harvard’s Public Education Leadership Project and a stint on the National Assessment Governing Board which oversees NAEP- the Nation’s Report Card.
She began as a teacher in Prince George’s County in 1972 before going into administration in that district as well as in Howard County, Md, Montgomery County, Md. and the D.C. Public Schools. Directly before coming to Maryland, she was the State Superintendent of Schools in Mississippi from 2013 to 2022.
That is where she supposedly engineered the “Mississippi Miracle” with reading scores in that state. This accomplishment is something her supporters spout ad nauseum. They want her to bring the “miracle” here.
Problem is, the miracle is not what it is cracked up to be. In fact, many say it’s a scam.
There is no doubt that Mississippi has long been a state with problems regarding their schools. It is a distinctly rural state and one of the poorest in the country. The poverty rate is 19.4% of the population living in poverty, second only to Louisiana. The state ranks 50th in education and health. Anyone coming in as State Superintendent would have a huge challenge facing them. (Poverty Rate by State 2025)
It is also a state where the disparity between Black and Whites in income, education, etc. is historically wide.
And, as most people in government know, if you just state that you are improving the situation, it doesn’t matter to many how you do it or if the improvement is real. Wright, having come from some of the most progressive districts in the Mid-Atlantic area, would know that creating an illusion of success might be more important than actual success.
So she found a way to do that and she had great timing. About the time Wright was hired, the State of Mississippi passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act – Literacy. Here is an excerpt from that act:
The Office of Elementary Education and Reading is responsible for supporting and training K-3rd grade teachers, curriculum specialists and other educators by providing research-based instructional strategies on literacy and guidance on the implementation of the Literacy-Based Promotion Act. Passed during the 2013 legislative session, the Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA) places an emphasis on grade-level reading skills, particularly as students’ progress through grades K-3. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, a student scoring at the lowest achievement level in reading on the established state-wide assessment for 3rd grade will not be promoted to 4th grade unless the student qualifies for a good cause exemption.
While the policy doesn’t seem unreasonable for many in education, it also became a “gate keeper” strategy for creating test groups in Mississippi, especially in the NAEP 4th grade test group. However, this also creates a reshaping of the testing pool via retention. From MINDING THE CAMPUS:
In the 2022–2023 school year, 2,287 third graders were held back—2,078 of them for failing the reading test. That means these students didn’t advance to fourth grade and therefore don’t test for the Nation’s Report Card. With the lowest-performing students removed, the fourth-grade averages naturally look better. That’s not a miracle—it’s statistics.
It is estimated that 10% of third graders were held back in third grade, some more than once.
Imagine if Maryland could remove all the students who weren’t on grade level from state testing. Those test scores would look very good!
Is it clear that Wright encouraged or supported this act? Seems so. She brought that idea to her new position in Maryland. The state has recently approved a new literacy policy that allows for retention of third graders who fall short on reading standards, but only with parental consent. In a state that does its own testing at all grade levels, the impact on state testing won’t be that drastic. After all, proposing that you fail students at each grade level if they can’t proficiently complete grade level work would be political suicide in the deep blue state. But, as Maryland participates in the NAEP, the fourth grade strategy of excluding students not on grade level could boost Maryland’s scores and national ranking as well.
It’s also a matter of putting that improvement in context. Being higher up on the ranking of the worst of the worst is no prize to aim for.
Another problem with the “miracle” is that while Mississippi may have improved it’s standing nationally in their NAEP scores, one has to look at the actual lasting academic performance. In 2022 the NAEP test revealed that 69 percent of Mississippi’s fourth graders weren’t proficient in reading, and 82 percent of eighth graders flunked math. And if Mississippi ranks 21st with numbers that dismal, it’s less a sign of Mississippi’s success than a flashing warning about the depth of the national reading crisis. ( Why the Mississippi education ‘miracle’ is a myth – Mississippi Center for Public Policy)
If all this sounds familiar to you, remember when State Superintendent Choudhury allegedly removed some test results from the state website in order to hide the fact that 23 Baltimore City Schools had ZERO students scoring proficient on state tests. Fortunately, a local television outlet saw the data before it was redacted. The scandal was part of what got him to “resign”.
MD School Test Scores Disappear From State Website – The Easton Gazette
Choudhury removed the test scores of failing students. Wright removed the failing students from the test group.
Instead of facing the stark reality that so many of our students cannot read, Superintendents like Wright and Choudhury create an illusion of improvement and competency.
This removal of scores was in the midst of Maryland bragging about gains in state test scores. Even with the removal, the scores that a sizeable number of students in almost all Maryland counties, were not proficient in reading and math.
Of course, in Maryland we are used to data being misused and removed. For example, while Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott talks about how Baltimore’s crime rate is dropping, many point out that juvenile crime in the city is no longer counted. The philosophy is that if you don’t like the stats of a particular group, remove them from the data.
That is not where the comparison between Wright and Choudhury ends. Choudhury wanted desperately to have full control of curriculum being taught in ALL Maryland school districts. He wanted it so much that he was willing to go in front of the state legislature and attempt to bully then into giving him that control. This story contains a video of this interaction:
The Man Who Would Rule Maryland Education
Wright, early in her tenure in Maryland, did something similar when she demanded that all counties adopt the SCIENCE OF READING program in their schools, regardless of whether or not their county needed it. The only difference? She did it via a professionally written, polite letter:
Maryland Continues To Demolish Local School Board Control – The Easton Gazette
While we are not debating the possible effectiveness of THE SCIENCE OF READING, there are many districts who were doing a great job teaching reading without specifically employing the program. Others had already adopted a version of it in their curriculum. That wasn’t good enough for Wright.
The mandate reminds many of us of the time when Maryland wanted all schools to use the Lucy Calkins Whole Language program. The one difference was that the State Superintendent at the time didn’t usurp their authority and mandate the program.
Wright bullies counties who disagree with her. She does it by changing the rules midstream, protecting those she agrees with and threatening those she doesn’t. She uses friendly legislatures, a compliant state inspector general and an appointed State School Board who doesn’t want local control of education any more than she does. Instead of public tirades, she writes nasty letters. Fortunately, we have not seen her run and hide in a closet, yet. That might be because the local left leaning news outlets (Maryland Matters, Baltimore Banner, WBAL etc.) are carrying water for her on the Somerset County situation.
Wright is soft spoken in her efforts to control. It works. She seems to have firmly silenced all the county Superintendents and school boards in the state. Superintendents want her to protect them if they get fired; school board members are afraid she will work to get them removed if they speak up.
Carey Wright is the same type of State Superintendent as Choudhury but in a more palatable package; an older, grandmotherly white woman with a genteel manner. Choudhury was a victim of his own personality, dishonesty and demeanor. However, it is interesting that Maryland would choose a Superintendent with a more moderate manner who is more damaging to local control of our schools than he ever was.
More Information:
Q&A: Mohammed Choudhury on stepping down as Maryland schools chief – Maryland Matters
The Mississippi Miracle Needs a Reality Check — Minding The Campus
Column: How Mississippi gamed its national reading test scores to produce ‘miracle’ gains
Why the Mississippi education ‘miracle’ is a myth – Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Is Mississippi education ‘miracle’: myth or reality? Experts disagree
Mississippi Schools’ Turnaround: Interview with Carey Wright | McKinsey
ExcelinEd highlights impact of Mississippi’s Literacy-Based Promotion Act – Magnolia Tribune
After Steering Mississippi’s Unlikely Learning Miracle, Carey Wright Steps Down – The 74
-Jan Greenhawk
The post Is Maryland Superintendent Carey Wright A More Palatable Version of Mohamad Choudhury? appeared first on The Easton Gazette.
