§ 115C-64.26.  Powers and duties of B-3 Interagency Council.

The B-3 Interagency Council shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) Facilitating the development and implementation of an interagency plan for a coordinated system of early care, education, and child development services with a focus on program outcomes in satisfying the developmental and educational needs of all children from birth to eight years of age that includes at least the following:

a. Any recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Superintendent of Public Instruction on necessary organizational changes needed within the Departments of Health and Human Services and Public Instruction to be more responsive to and supportive of the birth to grade three continuum of early learning and development in an effort to optimize learning gains realized in the prekindergarten years.

b. An early childhood information system that facilitates and encourages the sharing of data between and among early childhood service providers and State agencies.

c. An early childhood accountability plan that includes identification of appropriate population indicators and program and system performance measures of early success of children such as the NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading.

(2) Implementing a statewide longitudinal evaluation of the educational progress of children from prekindergarten programs through grade 12.

(3) Collaborating with the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Partnership for Children, and other relevant early childhood stakeholders, including members of the North Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council, to achieve the goal of a coordinated system of early care, education, and child development services for children from birth to eight years of age. (2017-57, s. 7.23I(a).)