Right now, Michigan kids are struggling with something fundamental — reading. Over the last 20 years, the state dropped from 30th to 44th in 4th-grade reading scores. Last year, only 25 percent of fourth graders were considered proficient in reading.

What can Michigan do about this? Some suggest we should be looking to Mississippi, because that state has dramatically improved its math and reading scores for 4th graders, now ranking in the top 20 after it was at the bottom a decade ago. But Mississippi isn’t flush with cash — it’s America’s poorest state. So how did they do it? And what does Michigan need to do to change its rankings?

To discuss all that, we have Adrea Truckenmiller on The Metro today, an associate professor of special education at Michigan State University.