Accomplishments, Not Miracles

I’ve told this story before.

When I was a new high school principal, I sat on a panel discussing the importance of establishing a seamless pipeline when it came to providing a strong learning plan for every public school student. Of course, with me representing the upper secondary piece of the pipeline, I was eager to tell the audience why investing in kids aged 14- to 18-years of age was the best investment anyone could make when it came to a strong return on investment when it came to deep learning.

Also on the panel that day was a good friend of mine. She was the executive director of Houston’s leading early childhood non-profits. Carol represented all kids who hadn’t started in the traditional K-12 system – the little ones aged birth to four or five.

I remember the panel host started from the oldest in the pipeline and worked their way back. So after the community college rep finished their pitch, it was my turn. I argued about the importance of high school and its position to be the last, best place to get kids ready for college and a career. I argued for students’ opportunities to earn college credit through Advanced Placement or dual credit coursework. I emphasized that high school was where most kids “found themselves” and began to realize what their adult lives might look like. I felt good when I finished, confident the audience would agree with me that high school was the most important development time for kids from birth to 18-years of age.

We heard from a middle school principal, and an elementary superintendent, and then it was Carol’s turn. Carol didn’t give an impassioned speech about the importance of investing in early childhood education. The only thing Carol did that morning was show one graph on the big screen – comparing the money invested in a young learner and the return on that investment when it came to reading, writing, and problem-solving abilities. What Carol’s graph showed was that the more money invested as young learners advanced through the Birth to College pipeline, the less impactful results you could expect when it came to reading, writing, and problem-solving abilities.

In other words, spending money on kids from birth to 4-years-old made a substantial difference in their abilities to read, write, and problem-solve – way more substantial than any other section of the educational pipeline.

I was shocked. My idea that the high school years were the most important time in a young learner’s pursuit to become smarter and stronger was blown out of the water. That day started my life-long pursuit as a leader to emphasize the importance of early childhood learning and to try to make sure that every kid, from birth to kindergarten-age, had the opportunity to learn in a controlled environment.

So you can imagine my delight when I read an article posted yesterday by The 74 titled “An Overlooked Factor of the “Southern Surge”: Investments in Early Childhood” (3/24/26):

“For years, pundits and education wonks have been abuzz about what’s been termed the ‘Mississippi Miracle’ or the ‘Southern surge’ in education: literacy scores in Mississippi and surrounding states have skyrocketed, outpacing counterparts in better-resourced regions and providing a positive story amid America’s generally lackluster educational performance.”

“States including Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have garnered attention in the media for offering lessons other states can learn from – a February New York Times opinion piece heralded the trio at ‘the best hope in schooling.’”

“Yet the Southern surge narrative has, so far, largely ignored another commonality among those states: tremendous improvements in early childhood education.”

All three states, along with other Southern states, began to invest mightily in early childhood education between the years 2010 and 2015. These are the kids who are now knocking the reading, writing, and problem-solving tests out of the park.

The 74 article concludes:

“These states, then, offer important lessons for both early childhood and K-12 stakeholders around the importance of tightly and thoughtfully aligning both systems – in both directions – and ensuring there are enough resources present to support educators. Leaders don’t have to look far: groups like the National P-3 Center have been developing alignment frameworks and tools for years. What’s needed is a renewed commitment, particularly among state and district leaders, to seeing early care and education not as a nice-to-have, a wholly separate enterprise, or even worse, a competitor – but as a core part of ensuring all children are reading on grade level. That might not be a miracle, but it would sure be an accomplishment.”

Til tomorrow. SVB