SREB Committee on Reading and Writing in Middle and High Schools to Hold First Meeting

The meeting will be from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Hotel, 1200 East Cary Street, in Richmond.

The committee will develop proposed policies for SREB states to help students develop higher-level reading and writing skills in the middle grades and high school.

State leaders from across the 16 SREB member states will hear today from national reading and writing experts, including Tim Shanahan of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Peggy McCardle of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Steve Graham of Vanderbilt University, and Don Deshler of the University of Kansas.

Serving with Governor Kaine on the Committee are:

• Alabama State Senator Vivian Davis Figures
• Katherine Mitchell, Assistant State Superintendent, Alabama Reading Initiative, Alabama Department of Education
• Alabama State Superintendent of Education Joseph B. Morton
• Luke Gordy, Executive Director, Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation
• T. Kenneth James, Commissioner, Arkansas Department of Education
• Arkansas State Representative David Rainey
• Delaware State Representative Teresa L. Schooley
• Evan Lefsky, Executive Director, Just Read, Florida!
• Florida State Representative Anthony Trey Treviesa
• Georgia State Representative Jan S. Jones
• Jennifer Rippner, Executive Director, Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, Georgia
• Carolyn Witt Jones, Executive Director, Partnership for Successful Schools, Kentucky
• Kentucky State Senator Jack Westwood
• Sally Clausen, President, University of Louisiana System
• Maryland Secretary of Higher Education James E. Lyons Sr.
• Lynn House, Chief Academic Officer, Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning
• Oklahoma State Representative Jeannie McDaniel
• Oklahoma State Representative Jabar Shumate
• Stephen A. Cobb, attorney and former state representative, Tennessee
• Lois M. DeBerry, Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, Tennessee
• Lizzette C. Gonzalez Reynolds, Acting Deputy Commissioner, Senior Adviser – Education Initiatives, Texas Education Agency
• Texas State Senator Florence Shapiro
• Billy K. Cannaday Jr., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Virginia Department of Education
• Mark E. Emblidge, President of the Virginia Board of Education, Affiliate Professor and Director, The Literacy Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Jay Cole, Director of Educational Policy, Office of the Governor, West Virginia
• Gayle Conelly Manchin, First Lady of West Virginia

For more information about the committees and educational progress in SREB states, contact SREB Communications.

SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.