Aiden Buzzetti
Recent New York Times article An educational reform conducted by conservative as political results was presented-more interested in fighting “awakened” ideology than improving students’ results. Implication is known: that republican efforts in education concern cultural wars, not classes. But this story misses a larger picture. Under the headers, some of the most significant – and effective – educational reforms in America are directed by conservative leadership. Just look at Mississippi and Louisiana.
These two deep red states are not known for bragging about the perfection of education. In fact, they have been fighting the bottom of national rankings for decades. But in the last few years they have become the two most observed examples of what is possible when decision -makers treat education seriously – and when they are ready to challenge aged systems and tired assumptions.
Let’s start with Mississippi. In 2013, the legislators adopted a bold, conservative strategy of concentrated reform on early reading and writing skills. Before achieving before promotion, they adopted the act on a promotion based on a reader, demanding from the third grade. They changed the training of teachers to emphasize phonika and “reading reading”, an approach based on research, which has long been ignored in favor of more fashionable, less effective methods. They set higher standards and constantly focused on the results.
The results speak for themselves. In 2019-overcoming the Pandemic-Correction class of the Mississippi reading results on the National Educational Progress Assessment (NAEP) for the first time exceeded the national average. And even when other states saw postpandemic declines, Mississippi maintained its profits. Black students in Mississippi now outweigh black students in most other states – a stunning phrase that few will predict ten years ago.
Louisiana followed a similar path. The leaders of the countries implemented reforms aimed at returning to the basics – reading and writing and mathematics. They invested in the training of early class teachers, a review of programs and targeted interventions, such as high -level tutoring. Instead of playing fashionable educational fashionable or chasing fashionable words, they doubled basic academic skills. And although progress takes time, early signs are encouraging. Louisiana was Just state to get higher in reading in the fourth grade in 2024 than 2019.
These victories are not an accident – the result of a eternal, conservative creation of policy rooted in the belief that every child deserves access to knowledge – not ideology – and that responsibility, high standards and mastering the basics are not biased but necessary ideas.
To make it clear: the conservative educational movement consists not only in opposing the “awake” excesses. But let’s not pretend that culture problems are not true. Parents throughout the country are rightly frustrated when schools prioritize priority ideological programs in the field of academic achievements. They are tired of watching how mathematics results fall, while the classrooms get into political news. They are tired Schools eliminating distinction classes in the name of “capital” and even Democrats answer to these decisions with concern. Conservatives did not produce a problem – capital supporters.
What distinguishes conservative states, such as Mississippi and Louisiana, is that they not only complain and build. They transform teachers’ training, attract school responsibility, include instructions supported by the research and refuse to allow the aged political compromise to become by the success of students.
Critics love to suggest that conservatives are an anti-educational. But evidence on Earth tell a different story. Mississippi and Louisiana did not reach here by accident. Their leaders made deliberate, sometimes politically challenging decisions. They stood against rooted interests and were ready to think about everything from promotional policy to the curriculum.
Meanwhile, many heavenly states – where educational bureaucracy remains largely unchanged – they stay behind. The irony is that those who claim that they are the guards of “justice” often chair the systems in which low -income and minority students make the slightest academic progress. However, conservative reforms in the south have achieved real benefits for these students. It is completely possible to push over ideological crossing and also lead a real academic reform.
So let’s stop pretending that conservative educational policy consists only of conversations and cultures of culture. It’s about the results. It is about assuring that every child can read according to the third grade and master multiplication by the fourth. It is a request that schools serve families – not political programs. And above all, it is about the belief that education should open the door, not close minds.
Conservatives do not react only to problems in education. We solve them. And if the rest of the country wants to model the model, it’s time to look south.
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Aiden Buzzetti is the president of the Project Foundation from 1776. Earlier he was the director of the PAC project coalition from 1776 and can be found on X on @aidenbuzzetti.
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