Another trigger for the search!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023

Is Mississippi for real? Below, we show you another trigger for our current search.

You won't hear about any of this on Deadline: White House. You won't hear about any of this this from Rachel or from Lawrence.

Our blue tribe tribunes don't care about this. That basic fact has been blindingly obvious for a very long time.

That said, here are some test scores for lower-income black kids on last year's Naep:

Average scores, lower-income black students
Grade 4 reading, Naep, 2022
Massachusetts: 204.05
Mississippi: 202.76
Washington state: 202.46
Florida: 202.27
Arizona: 201.19
Texas: 199.84

U.S. public schools: 193.42

In Grade 4 reading, those were the six highest-performing states among lower-income black kids on last year's Naep. 

(Within Naep data, what we call "lower-income" is derived from eligibility for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program.)

As you can see, Mississippi's lower-income black kids outscored their counterparts in every state except Massachusetts on the Grade 4 reading test. Based on a very rough but conventional rule of thumb, they outperformed their counterparts across the nation by almost one whole academic year.

Those scores are part of what the Associated Press recently referred to as "the Mississippi miracle." In that report, the AP offered some explanations for this surprising performance.

Nicole and her favorites don't care about any of this' neither do Lawrence or Rachel. The Morning Joe gang created a brief/bungled clown show about this matter when the AP report appeared.

Having said all that, we'll also say this. The question we're asking is this:

Are those surprising test scores real? Is everything really as it seems with those "heartening" data?

Tomorrow, we start the search to answer that question. MSNBC's values to the side, we blue tribe members can decide for ourselves whether such things are important.

For all Naep data, start here.