The upcoming release of the movie Supergirl got me thinking about another Superman-related film—one without laser vision or chiseled jawlines.
Waiting for Superman, released in 2010, follows families hoping to use lottery systems to get into a charter school. These families were stuck in failing public schools and desperate for a way out. Parents profiled in the film cried tears of joy when their children “won” the lottery and were so disheartened when they didn’t.
Its message was simple: droves of students are stuck in failing public schools and are waiting desperately for someone to help.
Missouri has been content allowing students to wait for Superman (or Supergirl now). My colleague, Susan Pendergrass, describes the problem well:
For years, the education establishment in Missouri has relied on a predictable playbook. Whenever state test scores drop or national rankings look bleak, we are told that the data don’t capture the whole picture, or that a new bureaucratic report card will soon show things are turning around. We are urged to wait, to invest more taxpayer money, and to trust the system.
But each year, more students move through the system either underprepared or unprepared. Thankfully, there are proven policies that can help.
Charter schools, open enrollment, and education savings accounts (ESAs) give parents choice, which in turn fosters more competition. With increased competition and accountability, schools are incentivized to innovate.
But Missouri parents have significant limits on choice.
Charter schools face a quasi-ban across the entire state, except in the St. Louis City School District, the Kansas City 33 School District, and all school districts in Boone County. (A charter school does operate in Normandy Schools Collaborative due to an accreditation provision). Missouri does not have open enrollment, and the ESA program reaches only a fraction of the state’s more than 900,000 students.
This needs to change.
Also concerning is Missouri’s reluctance to embrace comprehensive early literacy reform.
When Waiting for Superman was released in 2010, Mississippi ranked 48th in fourth-grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Louisiana ranked 47th, Tennessee ranked 38th, Indiana ranked 27th, and Missouri ranked 31st.
Since then, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Indiana have implemented serious early literacy reform. They all recognized teaching children to read is a serious undertaking that requires serious solutions.
Success has followed. By 2024, Mississippi had risen from 48th to 9th in fourth-grade reading. Louisiana climbed from 47th to 15th. Tennessee improved from 38th to 23rd. Indiana jumped from 27th to 6th. Do those states have more work to do? Of course.
But while they’ve shown improvement, Missouri has fallen from 31st to 38th, as 42% of our fourth graders scored below basic on the reading portion of NAEP.
There was a clear opportunity to pass early literacy reform to mimic the successes of these other states with House Bill 2872. But opponents in the Senate argued that Missouri should allow the state’s 2022 early literacy reforms (Senate Bills 681 and 682) to take full effect. In other words, keep waiting.
Superman does not exist, and neither does Supergirl.
But policymakers do.
Missouri students cannot afford to spend another year waiting. There are proven reforms that can expand educational opportunity and improve outcomes. This year, Missouri chose not to pursue them. For the sake of our students, that needs to change next year.
