Mississippi has traditionally rabked last in literacy in the USA. Perhaps that’s because the state name is so hard to spell (even if it only takes a second to say), and their towns within are even more difficult, that students give up learning to spell anything else.
Now, English has special problems that Romanian doesn’t. In Romanian, if you learn the rules, then you can spell just about anything. And when you can spell words, you can write and read them too. In English, there are so many exceptions, that it is possible to be fluent in reading and pronounce half of what you say incorrectly, or be fluent in listening but still not be able to read very well. Still, many Romanians use English as a working language (especially when communicating with expats or foreigners), and there are enough in common that we can look at similarities.
Conservative news sources credit “phonics” of the “Mississippi miracle.”
RICH LOWRY: Mississippi, not California, is the education future
Phonics makes sense if you understand how the English language works. There are many different ways to write the long-a sound in English, and phonics is about learning these different letter combinations to understand how the language works. It starts with learning the alphabet, and progresses to learning alternative sounds of letters, sounds of letter combinations, and so on. There are a few sounds (like the “ou” in “thou” ) that do not seem to follow any rule but if you learn phonics and the “normal” rules first, and then you just pick up the exceptions as they come along.
How do you pronounce ui in English? Like Build and guilt?… but more commonly it seems to be like guitar and linguistics… and then there’s fruit and suit! Let’s not forget mosquito! And what about fluid? But most of the time, unless you’re Gallagher, you can make sense of the basics.
Oh wait, that is phonics not working. What about it working?
We can look up phonics online, to see it in action.
Now, phonics might be part of the picture, and it certainly seems to help. Trying to learn complicated things before you learn the basics can be offputting, and so difficult that many people give up. Level appropriate learning is always a good way of doing things.
But, in addition to those who praise Mississippi, it makes sense to look at those who criticise the state to see what they are really up to. Or, at least look at different viewpoints, like that from the envious Arizona.
The “Literacy Based Promotion Act of 2013” seems to be what turned Mississippi around. One policy was to ask children to repeat in third grade (year four) if they couldn’t read at a certain level. So, illiteratue third graders would have to repeat the year until they could read.
While Mississippi doesn’t seem as strict about having its own university levels for teachers, it does test them on certain skillsets, including the so-called “Science of Reading.” The Science of Reading goes beyond phonics.
Teachers must pass this standardized test, rather than have a bunch of fancy qualifications after their name. (There are qualifications for teachers in the state, of course, but it generally accepts teachers qualified in other states, so it has more teachers to choose from.) So, teachers need to prove that they understand how the brain works, and how children think. Standardised tests for children are common, and teacher training is also common, but standardized tests for teachers might be part of what sets Mississippi apart.
Other than that, teachers in Mississippi seem to have a great deal of freedom in what methods they use to teach.
And another factor that the conservative newspapers leave out is the emphasis on pre-kindergarten schooling options. (Basically, government funded creches).
Mississippi spends money on education. Despite the fact that Mississippi is the poorest state, it spends more per pupil than richer states like Arizona. That’s not just a higher percentage of the overall budget, but more per pupil.
What is especially encouraging for Romania is that Hispanic students in Mississippi went to number one in the nation. While Spanish is not exactly Romanian, Hispanic students in the US tend to speak Spanish as a second language. Many Romanians learn abroad and Romania is also a multilingual nation. Romanians who study in English would probably benefit from similar techniques and Hispanic students who study in English.
But could it work for foreign students studying Romanian? Yes, why not. Romanian is more regular than English, so there is no need for spelling bees. Each sound tends to match one spelling, and each spelling one sound. So, If you manage to learn some of the basic rules, you can figure out how almost anything is spelt.