Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Save the Date for CDE Literacy Webinar and Meet the Co-Directors of Statewide Literacy Efforts

I am excited to invite you to a California Department of Education (CDE) webinar on March 23, 2023, at 4 p.m. to learn about strategies to help California students reach our goal of reading by third grade. Administrators, teachers, reading coaches and specialists, classified staff, parents, and students are invited to attend.

During the webinar, participants will highlight a number of key strategies and tools that have been proven to help students meet literacy goals, including:

• The English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework
• New standards approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) for teacher training programs regarding teaching literacy
• Freedom School Afrocentric evidence-based literacy intervention program
• Primary Promise literacy program
• Programs to support English learners in reaching literacy goals

The webinar will also introduce two new statewide literacy directors, who will be working to develop plans to help local educational agencies help students reach literacy by third grade.

March 23 Webinar Participants

• Dr. Hallie Yopp Slowik, Professor Emeritus, California State University (CSU), Fullerton
• Dr. Barbara Flores, President, California Association for Bilingual Education
• Nancy Brynelson, CDE Statewide Literacy Co-Director
• Dr. Bonnie Garcia, CDE Statewide Literacy Co-Director
• Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, CDE Multilingual Support Division Director

About the New CDE Co-Directors for Statewide Literacy

Nancy Brynelson served most recently as a special literacy consultant to the CTC and as one of the primary writers of the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework. Ms. Brynelson was also the Co-Director of the Center for the Advancement of Reading and Writing at the CSU Chancellor’s Office. Ms. Brynelson has also been a consultant writer for the National Association of Educational Progress’ 2025 Reading Framework and was an Education Program Consultant at CDE in the Reading/Language Arts Leadership Office.

Dr. Garcia most recently served as a Program Specialist and Literacy Specialist at the Desert Mountain Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) where she established a Literacy Improvement Network for the 40 school districts in the SELPA. Dr. Garcia has served as a structured literacy/dyslexia interventionist and is an Associate of the Orton-Gillingham Academy for Practitioners and Educators through which she has provided structured literacy training for educators, including training to support the SELPA’s dyslexia initiative.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction