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Mumford ISD is beating the expectations its context would predict in third-grade reading. Superintendent Allen Reese and teacher Desiree Reese explain why: start early, tell the truth, and give the few in front of you more time than the job requires.
CTO of Swiftscore. Writes about what we're learning from districts on the ground.
Superintendent of Mumford ISD, a small rural district in Texas.
Third-grade teacher at Mumford ISD.
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I recently took a philosophy class called The Many and the Few, which was about how to prioritize "the greater good of humanity" and the people closest to us. My biggest takeaway was that you should care deeply about the people close to you and do what it takes to support them.
I heard the same ideas echoed a thousand miles away in rural Texas, while talking with Superintendent Allen Reese at Mumford ISD.
Mumford stood out because it is "Above the Line": its students are performing better than districts with similar context would predict. In other words, the point is not just that Texas gave Mumford an A overall, though it did. The point is that Mumford is beating expectations relative to comparable districts, especially on student achievement and relative performance.1
The data shows that Mumford is clearly "Above the Line":
When I asked Reese what explained the results, he told me that "any school is going to be a reflection of its campus and district culture."
Mumford starts with three-year-olds. In pre-K, students learn rules, routine, and behavior such that by kindergarten, Reese expects them to be ready to learn to read. By third grade, they're expected to read and write independently.
Third grade is not the starting line, according to him. Ideally, years of preparation lead up to third grade reading performance.
When students are not on track for proficiency, Mumford responds quickly. Students who need more help stay after school for tutorials; some attend summer school even when they are technically passing. Reese knows this can sound tough. In conversation, however, his point is specific: adults cannot become complacent.
"I can feel sorry for a kid for any number of reasons," he said. "But the job is the job."
He expects the same level of excellence from teachers.
Teachers should "own" their classroom. Reese rejects micromanagement because "once the door closes," the teacher has to run the room. Principals and superintendents can't teach every class, nor can they curate the energy inside someone else's classroom.
Mumford's philosophy: Care is personal enough to be direct. Reese is willing to ask what's going on in a teacher's life. He is also willing to say that the work is not good enough.
The research backs this line of thought. Research supports Reese's version of coaching: direct feedback inside a trusted relationship. Effective coaching is individualized, classroom-connected, and built around observation and feedback.2 Relational trust matters because teachers are more likely to accept hard feedback when they trust the person giving it.3
Reese says it more personally: Support from afar often gets compliance; growth takes a real relationship.
Desiree Reese, a third-grade teacher at Mumford and Allen's wife, describes the same idea from inside the classroom. At bigger districts, it's easier for meetings to become agendas and checklists. At Mumford, teachers sit down with the reading data and name what didn't work. These conversations work because the people in it trust each other enough to be honest.
This is evident in writing. Third graders now have to type extended responses, so Mumford brings typing skills all the way down to kindergarten. Students begin with typing and oral language before writing, and each grade adds more.
Desiree's point was clear: you cannot start teaching skills in third grade and then be surprised when third graders aren't proficient at them.
Perhaps what best encompasses Mumford's philosophy of targeted care are "Allen's Absolutes":
Reese uses them in interviews, in August training, in coaching conversations, and in the way he talks to parents. New teachers and families are told what they are signing up for: a school cannot care about "students" in the abstract. A school can instead care for the child who needs another 45 minutes after school or the teacher that needs a hard coaching conversation.
In The Many and the Few, the hard question was: how do you live when need is everywhere and energy is finite?
Mumford's answer is local and demanding: look at the few around you. Start early, tell the truth, and give more time than the job requires.
Texas Education Agency, "Accountability Rating Overall Summary: Mumford ISD," 2024. TEA rated Mumford ISD A overall, with A ratings in Student Achievement and Relative Performance. Its Relative Performance score compares district outcomes against campuses or districts with similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students. ↩
Matthew A. Kraft, David Blazar, and Dylan Hogan, "The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence," Review of Educational Research, 2018. The review combined 60 causal studies and found positive effects on instruction and achievement, while noting challenges of scaling coaching effectively. ↩
Anthony S. Bryk and Barbara Schneider, Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement, University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Bryk and Schneider argue that relational trust is a critical resource for school improvement. ↩