When Maryland hired a new state superintendent of schools in October, the reaction among education observers was one of excitement — mixed with a sense of relief. Carey Wright, who has been appointed on an interim basis to complete the term of outgoing Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, is a top-tier recruit with deep ties to Maryland. She spent decades working as a teacher and administrator in some of the state’s largest school districts before serving a nine-year stint as schools chief in Mississippi, where she was credited with leading a highly successful overhaul to literacy instruction.