Marla Davis, Ph.D., NBCT, is an award winning, veteran educator with 20 years of experience in  education.  As the State Director of Curriculum & Instruction at the Mississippi Department of Education, Dr. Davis’s roles include driving the state’s initiatives around middle school education; overseeing the development and implementation of curricular and instructional materials aligned to the MS CCRS in all core content areas (Mathematics, ELA, Science, Social Studies, World Languages, and the Arts);  oversight of the state’s s academic counseling efforts; on-site professional development and technical assistance to K-12 administrators and teachers;  co-leading the state’s HQIM-PL efforts in mathematics; evaluating existing programs to improve classroom instruction and student achievement;  designing and assisting in national promotion, mentorship, and selection of state-level finalists for the PAEMST award;  auditing secondary schools; and, implementation of the state’s  SREB college and career readiness courses at the middle and high school levels.