MLI is an innovative collaboration among Jackson State University, the Jackson Public School District, the Mississippi State Department of Education, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and the America Reads Mississippi-AmeriCorps Program. MLI is committed to improving the reading and literacy instruction and outcomes by addressing teaching and learning on two levels: 1) at Jackson State University within the College of Education and Human Development among faculty and the pre-service teachers who are their students and 2) in the Jackson Public School District, among teachers and pupils in grades preK-12. MLI has implemented a process for developing closer ties between the University and the school system both of which recognize major responsibility in the formal teaching and learning process for the Jackson, Mississippi community.

Since its creation in 2001, MLI has demonstrated impressive results in improving the performance of public school children from underserved populations on standardized tests such as the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT). It accomplished this by creating innovative pedagogies and instructional methods which improved the reading and learning outcomes of minority children from low income families. The model The MLI Way is an important contribution to the national challenge of preparing children from underserved populations who depend on the public school system to prepare them in a global, technologically sophisticated society.