The Council of Chief State School Officers (known in North Carolina as superintendent of public instruction) is convening education experts from five states in Washington, D.C., January 21-23 to strengthen statewide early literacy and early math practices.

Dr. Will Hoffman, superintendent of Tyrrell County Schools, and Hyde County Schools’ superintendent Dr. Randolph Lattimore are serving on the North Carolina team along with Department of Public Instruction members Cindy Dewey (Office of Early Learning), Karla Casteen (K-3 Literacy), and Tom Tomberlin (Data).

Similar teams from Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Vermont will join the North Carolinians to analyze current practices, rethink the role of research and data, and bridge the divide between theory and program implementation.

Participating school districts will receive grants to successfully implement policies that improve the use of evidence-based instruction in Pre-K to third grade.