Michael Cormack felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.  In May, Jackson Public Schools’ deputy superintendent was at his desk in the district’s central office, with the most recent third grade reading test results spread in front of him. As he thumbed through the papers, which showed that just over half of the students tested passed the state assessment on the first try, the knot in his stomach grew.  He realized he had to do something — immediately. Within weeks, Project 75 was born.  Project 75 is a reading initiative with an ambitious goal: to boost the percentage of third graders in JPS who pass the state assessment on the first attempt from 55% to 75%. Cormack presented his plan for Project 75 to the school board in August, but the initiative kicked off in earnest in mid-November.  It’s a bold leap, but based on the data about students’ ultimate success rate, Cormack believes it’s possible.  In 2013, state lawmakers passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act aimed at increasing reading proficiency. The legislation put a historic amount of money and resources toward the goal and established a third grade reading “gate.” To get promoted to fourth grade, students have three tries to pass, or score 3 out of 5 or higher, on the reading portion of the state English Language Arts assessment. Students have increasing success with each attempt. This past year, about 70% of JPS third graders ultimately scored high enough to move to the next grade, 15 points lower than the statewide average.  “What that indicates to me is that there is some latent knowledge that scholars activate, and there’s a level of seriousness and intensity once we get the initial scores back,” Cormack said. “But what we want to do is to tap into those energies early to ensure that out the gate, the performance is strong.” Largely thanks to the literacy act, the percentage of Mississippi’s fourth graders scoring advanced or proficient on the National Assessment of Education Progress has steadily grown, going from last in the country to ninth. But a closer look at the data reveals districts that still struggle, including Jackson.  Cormack, whose background includes K-12 teaching and leading the Barksdale Reading Institute, reviewed hundreds of files for every student who failed the state reading test last year. The documents arrived by milk crate this spring, after being reviewed by school-level administrators.  Kids attending Stewpot’s Recreational Summer Camp enjoy books while improving their reading skills, Thursday, June 12, 2025 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today What he found was, in many cases, students were not getting the targeted support they needed.  At the start of each school year, JPS teachers assess students to identify their strengths and weaknesses. That test helps teachers determine students’ specific instructional needs to improve their weakest academic areas.  However, in practice, that tailored instruction wasn’t always happening.  “We know exactly where our students need help,” Cormack said. “So why can’t we do it?” Project 75 aims to close those gaps by giving students targeted, tiered, thorough support. The plan involves seven strategies that center around data, district-wide coordination, professional development, monitoring and focused student learning. Some action items include scheduling standing meetings with school leaders and staff to review data and adjust teaching, tracking student progress, offering more professional development for teachers on the science of reading and assigning struggling students to the district’s most successful teachers.  Project 75 also includes an afterschool component for second graders and third graders who need extra help. LaRoy Merrick, principal of Walton Elementary School, said some parts of the plan were already being implemented ahead of the fall start date. Early in the year, for example, school leaders identified their students who struggle the most with reading, grouped them together and ensured they received one-on-one help from a reading interventionist in a small setting. Merrick also realized that his special education teachers — whose students are in the school’s bottom 25% of readers — needed to learn how to teach reading, so he sent them for training. In preparing for the Project 75 kickoff, Galloway Elementary staff reviewed absenteeism rates, discovering that some of their least proficient readers were also regularly missing school, Principal Natasha Simmons said.  Simmons said she’s impressed upon her staff the importance of the goal in front of them.  “They’re going to have to do an obsessive amount of reading to pass that test,” Simmons said. “So we’re attacking this in a number of ways.” The stakes are high. Research shows that reading is fundamental to academic success throughout schooling, which correlates with career success, financial security and better health outcomes.  “It can create a snowball effect,” Cormack said of reading. “When scholars are retained, we also know they enter a higher risk category for not successfully graduating high school. That’s not a reality that we want to live with, so we know the urgency of getting this right.” The initial impact of Project 75 won’t be revealed for months, until the third graders take the state reading test in May. But if the district falls short, Cormack is sure of one thing.  They’ll keep trying. ...read more read less