As education and workforce advisor to Governor Bryant, I have learned about the value of creating innovative solutions for education reform. The development of education policy is driven by evidence and research and is state-specific to meet the needs of children. I have spent my career helping children and families, and I would be honored to participate in this work with the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

I believe that states must take the lead in educational efforts and that the federal government should play a supporting role. A good policy is one that provides the framework to empower people to create innovative solutions to problems at hand. I believe that successful policy rests on the ability to induce system changes that improve outcomes along the entire spectrum of the educational system. Good policy addresses a real issue within the context of the state and is evidence-based.

I have served as a preschool and elementary school teacher in public schools in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mississippi, working with students from disadvantaged backgrounds. I found my passion working in early childhood education and continue to strive to move quality early childhood education to the forefront for policy decision makers. I have spent over 25 years helping Mississippi improve the well-being of our youngest children. In 2016, the Mississippi State Early Childhood Advisory Council adopted the Family-Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood System. This state plan connects and integrates resources and services for both parents/caregivers and their children in three key areas: (1) early care and learning; (2) health, mental health, safety, and nutrition; and (3) family engagement. The system is designed to place parents on a path to self-sufficiency and their children in child care centers that provide high-quality services and learning experiences.

I have spent my career in public service, working in schools and leading research to help children and families. I have deep understanding of the fundamental issues related to K–12 education, and I believe that good policy for early education must be informed by strong research. I served on the Mississippi Supreme Court Children's Judicial Commission, the State Early Childhood Advisory Council, and the Interagency Coordinating Council for Youth, as well as on the Education Commission of the States Steering Committee. Additionally, I helped lead the effort on the first round of Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5). Through our work, Mississippi was awarded $10.6 million to expand the Family-Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood System.

I believe the only way to determine future success is by reflecting on past experiences. The innovative education policy reforms I have assisted with in Mississippi have impacted student outcomes. In 2013, the Mississippi Education Works agenda passed and was implemented, providing policies to improve public education. The results of those efforts led to the 2019 NAEP scores indicating Mississippi as the only state in the nation with significant gains in fourth-grade reading. I started my career at a small early childhood setting / lab school in Silver City, New Mexico.  During my time there, we participated in and were awarded NAEYC accreditation. I later helped the lab school at Mississippi State University reach accreditation level too.

I have witnessed NAEYC’s efforts from a practitioner perspective for many years and now utilize the policy guidance for implementation in state legislation. NAEYC is a consistently reliable source to help inform decisions about successful education reforms. Listed below are some key education policies that have garnered bipartisan support to help children.

 Key Outcomes

 ·       The 2019 National Assessment of Education Process (NAEP) reading scores for Mississippi show a significant improvement in fourth-grade reading scores, the only state that showed this growth.

 Data-Driven Policy Innovations

 ·       Mississippi Works is an award-winning technology that connects job seekers with real-time employment opportunities. This initiative helps move people in lower-skill jobs to middle-skill careers and helps Mississippi college graduates find their dream jobs in the state. The Mississippi Works app is free on iTunes (keyword: msworks).

 ·       Moving people from lower-skill jobs to middle-skill careers directly impacts more than 60,000 low-income, often discouraged workers and gives them the opportunity to work toward self-sufficiency with access to appropriate education and professional development. These workers can be more competitive for middle-skill jobs in their immediate local labor market, which clears a significant path in Mississippi and around the country as more and more jobs will require middle skills.

·       Jobs for Mississippi Graduates (JMG) currently serves 2,899 at-risk high school students, with a 90 percent successful graduation rate. I have managed the implementation of this program in Mississippi.

·       Most importantly, during my time as policy advisor, our state has created a mechanism to measure the state’s progress in improving educational outcomes by institutionalizing one of the most comprehensive longitudinal education and workforce data systems in the country. This allows the state to gauge educational progress from pre-K through age 20 and into the workforce. The governor has effectively moved the state from a wait-and-see approach to real-time performance measures and created a feedback mechanism for continuing improvement and data-driven policy development.

It would be an honor to be considered for a position as a board member for the National Association for the Education of Young Children.