(NewsNation) — In around ten years, Mississippi has gone from being America’s second-worst ranked state in reading to the 21st.

Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant gives a lot of credit to the students, he said on “Morning in America.”

“This was a heavy lift for them,” Bryant said, pointing out that many of the students were grappling with reading disorders or living in poverty. “It was the children and their parents, parents who took this very seriously, who went home and said we’re going to start language within our home, we’re going to start reading, because we’ve got a benchmark now that we have to meet.”

According to the Associated Press, Mississippi made reforms such as holding students back in third grade if they cannot pass a reading test, although it also gives them multiple chances to pass through intensive tutoring and summer literacy camps.

Southern states like Mississippi also passed laws adopting reforms emphasizing phonics and early screenings for struggling kids, the AP reported.

To states that wonder if they can replicate the same success, Bryant says: “It can be done.”

“We used some of the basics of phonics, of making sure that (students) knew language, science, we retrained teachers,” he said.