Powerful teachers' unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read

States with stronger teachers' unions tend to have weaker literacy performance and have adopted fewer of the policies credited with improving reading outcomes, according to a new analysis from a center-left think tank.

Eight of the ten states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers' unions.

Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers' unions.

Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes.

Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.

ARKANSAS STUDENTS OUTPERFORM NATIONAL AVERAGE AFTER UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE EXPANSION, GOVERNOR SAYS The pattern isn't universal.

Maryland, a blue state with a strong teachers' union, has posted strong reading results, while South Dakota, a red state with a weaker union, has struggled.

The differences suggest union strength and party control alone don't explain states' reading performance.

Rachel Canter, PPI’s director of education policy, conducted the analysis with colleagues by comparing teacher-union strength rankings with states’ early-literacy policy scores.

Canter is also one of the people behind the slate of educational reforms in Mississippi that propelled the state from among the worst in the country for educational outcomes to among the best.

"Democrats, however, don’t often ask me how to replicate Mississippi’s success," Canter said.

"They ask if it’s possible at all, given the power of teachers’ unions in their home states." Teachers' unions, according to Canter, exert massive amounts of influence over both educational policies and how those policies are implemented in the classroom.

This can make schools in states with stronger unions slower to adapt to challenges or to adopt new, better methods.

TEACHERS UNION FACING YEARS OF DEFICITS SEEKS TO BECOME OREGON'S LARGEST PAC, INTERNAL DOCUMENTS SHOW Mississippi’s reforms, among other things, added kindergarten-through-third-grade screenings, literacy coaches, individual reading plans and held back third graders who failed the state reading test.