27.06.07

For immediate release
9/18/2007

Hillary Major
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
VCU School of Education
(804) 828-7535
hmajor@vcu.edu

Mark Emblidge to Serve on SREB Committees to Raise Student Achievement and High School Graduation Rates

Dr. Mark E. Emblidge, President of the Virginia State Board of Education and Director of The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been appointed to serve on two Southern Regional Education Board committees of state leaders that will develop policies to improve middle and high school student achievement and high school graduation rates in the 16 SREB member states. 

Governor Kaine will chair the SREB Committee to Improve Reading and Writing in Middle and High Schools, which held its first meeting in Richmond on August 29. “Reading and writing achievement needs to improve continuously for all students, but especially for high school students, who need to graduate well-prepared for the demands of college and the workplace,” Governor Kaine said.

Dr. Emblidge will also serve on the SREB Committee to Improve High School Graduation Rates and Achievement, chaired by Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia. 

“The Virginia Board of Education has identified improving reading, writing and graduation rates as top priorities in the years ahead for Virginia’s public schools,” said Dr. Emblidge.  “I expect these SREB committees to help give direction to the work of the board.” 

Together, the two committees comprise an eminent list of fifty legislators and leaders from the 16 SREB member states.  “The work of both new committees is critical to the region’s educational progress,” said SREB President Dave Spence. 

The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislators to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region.  Dr. Emblidge has been a member of SREB since 2004.  He presently serves as an affiliate professor and as the Director of The Literacy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University and has been closely involved with a variety of state and national educational issues over the past twenty years.

 

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