The Barksdale Reading Institute will bring to close its more than two decades of early-literacy work in Mississippi, Kelly Butler, CEO of the Institute, announced today.
For over twenty-two years BRI has worked hand-in-hand with Mississippi's schools of education, public schools and pre-k programs, and thousands of dedicated teachers, and has played a critical role in the significant improvement in reading scores in the state. In 2000, Mississippi students ranked 49th on fourth-grade reading scores as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2019, Mississippi ranked 26th, at the national average, and is among the top performers in accelerating growth for children in poverty and for children of color.
BRI was established in 2000 as the result of a $100-million commitment by Jackson native Jim Barksdale and his late-wife, Sally, a native of Hazlehurst. From the outset the Barksdales stressed that their funding was not a gift but an investment. Recently, Mr. Barksdale said, "Looking at the increased NAEP scores, which I am confident BRI has contributed to, and at the tens of thousands of students whose reading skills have improved significantly, I'd say that's a pretty good return on our investment."
The institute has consistently advocated an explicit, systematic approach to teaching the foundational skills of reading and writing. Through its work it designed and tested a number of models, introducing a literacy block into each school day that incorporated evidence-based practices and expert coaching coupled with high-quality professional development of teachers. This model went to scale in 2013 with passage of the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, Mississippi’s 3rd-grade reading law.
BRI leveraged its resources to bring to Mississippi the top literacy experts in the country and many have continued to support and guide the work. BRI’s CEO has served with Carey Wright, Mississippi’s Superintendent of Education, on the Advisory Board of the Southeast Regional Education Lab, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education through the Institute of Education Sciences.
BRI has approached its work through partnerships, believing that work done in collaboration with educators at every level of the system has the greatest impact. Responding to inquiries from more than 20 states about its work in pre-service teacher preparation, BRI initiated The Path Forward, a multi-state project in collaboration with The Belk Foundation (NC) and The Hunt Institute (NC). Six state teams were selected for Cohort 1 in 2021, including Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Most of the Institute’s educational assets will live on in BRI’s Reading Universe through its partnership with two nationally recognized organizations: WETA, the flagship PBS station in Washington, D.C. and First Book, an international organization focused on building a pathway out of poverty through education equity. As BRI closes the book next summer on its Mississippi operations, WETA and First Book will launch the initial prototype of BRI’s Reading Universe, which aims to be the premier source of information about teaching reading and writing to students in grades pre-K through 6th grade. “Teaching more children to read and write proficiently is the number 1 challenge facing our nation’s schools,” said Kareem Weaver, an expert adviser to Reading Universe and a long-time advocate for literacy and civil rights. “Reading Universe will give every teacher, every school, and every district free, instant access to authoritative, engaging and video-rich information about what it really takes to teach reading well.”
34 comments:
If it is so good, why doesn’t the state or fed. Govt take it over?
I don't think his ROI was very good. Nice thought though.
Heaven forbid a man should spend part of his fortune on trying to make his state a better place.
If it works so well why is it closing. If it works so well why can’t many children of the age of 17 read or write well. Something tells me it wasn’t good at all and the leader ship was stealing money from the school like they do in all of these school districts.
State refused to participate
I know a lot of people are disappointed as they made a lot of money as a result of this generous program.
No way they spent the whole $100 million.
They spent a lot of money, but I’m pretty sure they did some good.
Barksdale from The Wire/Baltimore?
It's hard to imagine having spent so much money for so little thanks.
Some limited good was done but for the money it was a huge flop.
I wonder how many condos on the Redneck Riviera were funded through their generosity?
100 Million dollars down the drain. Hope Barksdale feels good for his "collegiate attempt". I thank God my parents stayed on my ass as a kid in public school. JPS to be exact. Now nearing 60 with no kids ever (have yet to receive a free ticket to the Maury Povich show in a Father's Day card) and as a property owner I am footing the bill for the public schools with a portion of my property taxes. It's taxation without representation and there is NO reason for a stupid kid on my street. If there is a stupid kid on my street then by damn I'm really not getting what I am paying for. So what do we do? Obviously throwing 100 million dollars at the problem didn't work. Maybe 200 million dollars to Chowke and Sister Rukia would certainly work, right? BULLSHIT. We ALL need to get involved in these kids learning. "Oh well I'm not getting paid to make sure little Johnny does good in school" BULLSHIT one way or another stupid little Johnny is costing you money! So Johnny, how are you doing in school? Lemme see that report card. You're flunking reading and math. What's the problem? What can WE do about that, cause we ARE going to do something about it because I am paying for it! I can only HOPE that you would consider thanking me later on in your life, and I can only HOPE that I can be proud to exclaim what you have done with your life someday.
KF - I’m sure some of your readers are actually reasonably intelligent. However, the collective stupidity of the Bubba types responding to this particular blog post is mind boggling. But then again, these guys are simply products of the ignorant population that has resided and continues to reside in the great state of Mississippi.
Barksdale Reading Institute was and is a huge success. It improved teaching skills and learning skills for thousands of teachers and tens on thousands young readers. BRI spawned many new learning programs that will continue. My hats off to Jim Barksdale and his family!
damn 12:57 - double up on your meds today. Good thing you didn't have kids.
A former teacher from Byram left to teach at BRI. Antoinette Raggio (spelling may be wrong); my son Loved her as I still remember him correcting me while he was in kindergarten or first grade to Read with Expression! Thank you all who served to make Mississippi’s better place!
I'm not 12:57 but he is not wrong 1:54.
People without kids pay for the ferals that refuse to participate in education and continue to be on the government dole.
That said, I don't fault Barksdale for using his money how ever he chose, and its a more noble effort than many.
LBJ created this Great Society and we just have to live in it.
Except that wasn't and isn't his only objective Kingfish.
What the Barksdales did with some of their money should be an inspiration to all of us especially those of us who spend so much hot air complaining about the sad state of our young people. Do something positive before you complain.
Any attack on illiteracy should be applauded, not criticized as a "waste of money". Some kid's life is much better because somebody gave a damn. I can think of a lot of worse ways to spend money.
Because no matter how hard you try, no matter how much money is thrown at the problem, you just can't fix stupid.
12:57 Your time would be better spent on your usual job looking for all those stolen votes and those transistors implanted in vaccine recipients.
I will repeat myself, until some type of meaningful discipline is installed in Mississippi schools, nothing will change. You cannot teach someone who will not sit in their desk. In some counties you, as a teacher or assistant, is not allowed to touch a child -- ever, no matter what.
So, that many cannot read is understandable. Some come to kindergarten or first grade in our state that literally do not know their name. But, many do learn and it is impossible to adequately measure how much this helped with some teachers who will continue to teach better because of this effort.
So I say a big THANK YOU Mr. Barksdale for trying to help our youth read and have a better future.
The comments demonstrate why it is a waste of time and money to do anything for this state.
How can anyone call an effort to help children a waste of time or money? We waste money on everything, saving the future of a fellow human being is never a waste. The Barksdales could simply live a lavish wasteful lifestyle spending their money on profanity and luxury and no one would know or care. But they chose to help somebody less fortunate so their efforts are questioned. Remember, did Jesus Christ WASTE his life dying trying to save evil humanity?
Sadly, he spent an enormous amount of money treating the symptom (reading) instead of the cause (the breakdown of the family).
Paying for schools is socialism, plain and simple.
It has never worked.
This comment is not directed toward the children. My comment is directed towards the parents of the children that you cannot do anything with. They bore them and those kids are incapable of blending into a functioning society because of the “it takes a village” ideology. It just doesn’t work that way when the damn village is full of thugs and women that know nothing but lying on their back to have more kids. Oh, how did that great society human social engineering experiment work out? Not….too ….Good
Sounds like it was a noble effort. I suppose the overall tide of evil, gangster culture, strays, and enablement from the communists have become too strong for a difference to be made anymore. Sad.
12:52 Paying for schools is not socialism, it's common sense. If you believe millions of people with the right to be armed will simply accept a hopeless life as ignorant cattle to be forever herded by their educated masters you are extremely unrealistic. But then again, maybe you don't believe THEY have a right to be armed. I wonder.
Hey 12:52 If paying for schools is socialism, what is paying for prisons?
Does IT work?
8:59 makes a good point.
Prison does not work.
We should apply the death penalty more often to save tax payers on that rehabilitation farce.
@10:45 - how about courts of law. Are trials and public defenders too expensive for taxpayers? Maybe we can just have a volunteer group of noblemen, maybe elders from the church, ride around and enforce their principles on the general public. We will require all the women to wear modest clothing and always be accompanied by a man to protect them. Schools are also a racket, especially for girls since they will require a man to take care of them anyways. I’m seeing lots of savings to the taxpayers in this new utopia.
There is not way to spin it but a failure. A lot of money spend and little to show for it. It was Barksdale's money to waste so we do have a say in how he spends i.
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