Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

When I think of a student who “has it all,” Julie springs to mind. A cheerleader and beauty pageant contestant, she excels in sports and math.

Part of my inclusion class last school year and this year as an 8th grader, she works hard throughout her schoolday—from history to math to computer courses—completing in-class and homework assignments on time.

Yet, despite her many strengths, Julie faces a serious challenge: reading fluently. When she looks at a piece of printed text, her mind sees a jumbled mess of words, like a foreign language. As her teacher, I see her struggle to sound out words, and the frustration on her face breaks my heart.

Julie, like 10% of the world’s population, has dyslexia. She gets support from tutors in all her classes and, as part of her classroom accommodations, can have information read aloud to her whenever that helps her learn better. With these supports—whether from a teacher or a computer program—she is able to bridge the gap caused by her disability and succeed academically.

Because of this, Julie’s reading scores grew from 40% last spring to a 90% this fall, showing strong comprehension skills. Her face lit up when I shared the results with her. 

About 15% of students in our state are in special education, which is similar to the national average. However, when students like Julie take the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) required for graduation, only the questions are read aloud—not the passages. The test is designed to measure reading comprehension, which is Julie’s strength—if she can understand the text. MAAP unfairly limits her ability to show what she knows, turning the happy “All-American” girl into a deflated version of herself who worries that not being able to read the passage independently will derail her dream of becoming an engineer.

More than half of states—29 of them—allow state assessment reading passages and stimulus materials to be read to students who have dyslexia and other disabilities. Mississippi must follow suit, switching on the reading lightbulb for our learners and improving our ability to measure what they truly know.

To achieve this, the state should start by creating a task force that includes educators to study the academic benefits and economic implications of allowing students with documented learning differences, including those with dyslexia like Julia, to have state testing passages read aloud. 

As part of its work, the task force could gather case studies from teachers like me who have seen their students grow tremendously in their ability to understand what they read when it’s read aloud to them.

For Julie, the confidence she has gained this school year means she can fully participate in history class discussions about American explorers and Teddy Roosevelt’s visit to Mississippi. Now that she can access more information in her computer course, she is solving advanced math word problems and creating code to make her own video game.

As her future as an engineer seems more likely these days, she beams when she shares she has an A in that class. I know there are many other stories just like Julie’s across Mississippi that make the case for MAAP read-aloud accommodations.  

With the help of the read-alouds in class and continued fluency skill-building, Julie now has a favorite author: Lurlene McDaniel. Like the heroines in the novels that overcome serious illness, she is able to overcome her fear of reading fluently. The reading lightbulb has been switched on for her.

Mississippi must help ensure it turns on for all students in the Magnolia State.  

Brandy Richardson is a 7th and 8th grade special services teacher at Lake Middle School in Lake in Scott and Newton counties and 2025-26 Teach Plus Mississippi Senior Policy Fellow.