Vermont’s eighth graders still lead. Vermont’s own education agency points to Mississippi’s reading overhaul as the model to follow.

by Compass Vermont

Vermont spends $2.34 on each public school student for every $1 Mississippi spends. Yet on the most recent national tests, Mississippi’s fourth graders outscored Vermont’s in both reading and math.

Vermont spent $28,818 per student in fiscal year 2024, the third-highest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Mississippi spent $12,324, fifth from the bottom. That’s a difference of $16,494 per student in fiscal 2024.

The test is the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It’s a federal exam given every two years to a sample of fourth and eighth graders in every state, and it’s the only test that compares states directly. Here’s how the two states stood in 2024:

Among eighth graders, Vermont is still ahead in both subjects. The reversal is in the early grades, where children learn to read.

Vermont’s reading scores have also slipped against the rest of the country. In 2002, Vermont eighth graders averaged 272 in reading, well above the national 263. In 2024, they averaged 257, the same as the nation. Vermont’s fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores both fell from 2022 to 2024, and fourth-grade reading was also below its 2019 level. In 2024, 31% of Vermont fourth graders and 29% of eighth graders scored at or above the test’s “proficient” level in reading.

Mississippi has some of the lowest consumer prices in the country. On the federal government’s 2024 price index, only Arkansas was lower. Mississippi stood at 87 and Vermont at 98, against a national 100. A rough adjustment for those prices still leaves Vermont spending about twice as much per student. The index measures household prices, not what it costs to run a school.

Mississippi also educates a large share of its students in rural schools. In fall 2021, 56% of Vermont public school students attended rural schools, compared with 47% in Mississippi. Another 27% in each state attended schools in towns.

What Mississippi Changed

Mississippi’s fourth graders ranked 49th in the nation in reading in 2013. In 2022, they rose to 21st. In 2024, they beat the national reading average for the first time.

In 2013, Mississippi passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act. It changed how the state teaches reading in several ways:

• Teacher training. Elementary teachers were trained in the “science of reading”: teaching children explicitly how letters map to sounds, then building fluency, vocabulary and comprehension on that base.
• Coaches. The state trained reading coaches and sent them into its lowest-performing schools.
• Licensing. Since 2016, new elementary teachers have had to pass a reading-instruction exam to get a license.
• Early checks. Every child from kindergarten through third grade gets short reading screenings, so struggling readers are caught early.
• A third-grade test. Third graders who can’t pass a state reading test generally repeat the grade, with exemptions for some English learners and students with disabilities.

The third-grade rule is the most debated part. A 2025 critique argued that holding back the weakest readers keeps them out of the fourth-grade test and inflates scores. Economist Noah Spencer, whose study found the law raised fourth-grade scores, responded in January 2026 that students who are held back typically repeat third grade once and then take the fourth-grade test a year later, so they aren’t missing from the results.

Separately, the Urban Institute adjusts each state’s scores for differences in student populations, such as poverty. On that measure, Mississippi ranked first in the nation in fourth-grade reading and math in 2024.

Vermont’s Agency of Education says Mississippi’s effort began in 2000 with $100 million from a private foundation. That money paid for teacher training and coaching for more than a decade before the 2013 law. State funding started at $9.5 million and has held at about $15 million a year since 2014. The state education department now has about 85 people on its literacy team. The agency describes Mississippi’s progress as a 25-year effort, with federal and other private money layered on top.

What Vermont Is Doing

The Agency of Education’s May 2026 literacy report holds up Mississippi as the example Vermont should learn from.

In 2024, Vermont passed Act 139, its most comprehensive reading law. Here is what it requires, in plain terms:

• Instruction. Schools must teach kindergarten through third grade reading directly and systematically, starting with how letters map to sounds.
• Screening. Every child from kindergarten through third grade gets a short reading check each year.
• Extra help. Students who fall well behind must get added reading instruction.
• Teacher training. Kindergarten through third-grade teachers must get training in these methods.

The agency found that schools vary widely in how they teach reading. Only 59% of responding schools were using a highly rated core reading curriculum. Some were still using materials the agency says aren’t backed by evidence.

The law came with no dedicated money. The agency asked for $700,000 to keep its Read Vermont program going. The Legislature didn’t fund it in the mid-year budget adjustment, but the fiscal 2027 budget, Act 144, includes the full $700,000. Vermont’s appropriation is one-time funding.

The May report set two goals:

• Materials. Every district using reading materials that meet the state’s new standards by the 2027-28 school year.
• Certification. A science-of-reading certification for all kindergarten through third-grade teachers and administrators responsible for reading, by 2030.

Those are goals, not requirements yet. The agency’s 2026-27 plan says the state’s educator licensing board is expected to take up the certification this winter. The plan also notes the agency is working under “funding constraints.”

On Vermont’s own state tests, fourth-grade English language arts proficiency rose 7 percentage points in 2024-25, to 61%. The agency’s report notes that Mississippi’s gains took a quarter-century of steady funding, and the agency says measurable literacy improvement at scale takes at least five years.

Check Your School

Compass gives you the numbers so you can judge for yourself how your school is doing.

• Your school’s test scores. The Agency of Education’s State Report Card page links to the Annual Snapshot. The Snapshot shows English language arts and math proficiency for each school and district. The State Report Card page also lists schools the state has flagged for improvement.
• Early-reading screening results. The agency’s literacy report lists 2024-25 screening results for kindergarten through third grade at each school that responded to its survey. They’re in Table 15, “School Level Proficiency Data,” on page 60. Schools use different screening tests, and some set their own cut-off scores, so the agency warns against comparing schools directly. The numbers are most useful for seeing how many children in your school need extra reading help.
• Expected by December 2026. The agency plans to report statewide beginning-of-year screening results.
• What to ask your school board: Which screening test does our school use? What reading curriculum do we use in kindergarten through third grade? What happens for a child who falls behind?