There's more to it. It really sounds like it's worked well, at least at elementary age (which I can only assume is super important). The approach is based on:

- focus on "science of reading" approach for young children: "the key idea is that teaching strategies should align with a wide body of cognitive research on how young children learn to read. That research, amassed over decades, shows that in addition to a broad vocabulary, children need to understand phonics, or the relationship between letters and the sounds of spoken language."

- "Mississippi also made other changes, like investing in pre-K, and holding back third graders who cannot read well, one of its most debated policies."

- "raised academic standards and started giving each school a letter grade, A to F."

- "Mississippi also measures how much students progress toward proficiency. Schools get credit if students show improvement — and double credit for the improvement of students in the bottom 25 percent."

- "The Mississippi Department of Education sends literacy and math coaches into low-performing elementary schools, with the goal of teaching teachers, not children. And state officials vet and approve curriculum used by the vast majority of districts, unusual in a country that prizes local control of schools."