State leaders press urgency on early literacy, link phone use to reading declines

Governor Cox and federal and state education leaders used the summit to frame early literacy as an urgent, resource-intensive priority that requires training, community buy-in and policy support. Cox said the challenge is not a single fix: “There’s no 1 thing we can do to fix it. It’s all the things,” and called for volunteers, media campaigns and more paraprofessionals in classrooms.

The U.S. Department of Education representative at the event, identified in the program as an assistant secretary, highlighted federal grants awarded to states and urged giving states flexibility to spend funds locally. She cited a recent award and said the secretary’s priority is to “return education to the state,” while underscoring the need to train teachers and principals in the science of reading. Panelists pointed to Mississippi and North Dakota as models: Mississippi aligned teacher preparation, instructional materials and coaching over a decade; North Dakota implemented a bell-to-bell cell-phone ban that officials say produced measurable changes in reading habits.

Speakers also tied classroom device policies to attention and reading. Governor Cox characterized social media as “a phone problem” that is reshaping children’s attention and warned AI will intensify the issue without timely regulation. The summit highlighted school-level interventions (structured AIM time, progress monitoring, and instructional coaching), community measures (library access, family engagement), and state policy (SB 127) as complementary steps to accelerate progress.