A Think Twice Review of:

Review of Inside the Mississippi Marathon

Think Twice - Jul 14, 2026

Publisher/Think Tank - Progressive Policy Institute

Author(s) - Rachel Canter

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) recently published a report offering an insider account of how Mississippi's K–3 education system has evolved over roughly two decades.

Reviewer(s) - Gregory Camilli, Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University

In his review of Inside the Mississippi Marathon, Gregory Camilli, professor emeritus at Rutgers University, focuses on just a slice of the report: its description of the state's performance in fourth-grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The state's improvement on that exam has been called the "Mississippi Miracle." The PPI report rejects that characterization, opting instead to use a "marathon" metaphor.