This article was originally published in Maryland Matters.
Two educational boards set new, ambitious goals on Tuesday for student performance, attracting and retaining a diverse teaching force and reducing chronic absenteeism.
It was the second time this year that the Maryland State Board of Education and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board held a joint meeting, and members said their decision to set higher goals was intentional.
“You have to have aggressive goals if you want to make those kinds of gains,” said William “Brit” Kirwan, vice chairman of the Blueprint Board and chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland, during a break in Tuesday’s meeting.
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Of the new goals approved by boards, the proposed changes to student performance scores were the most notable.
Boards voted to set a new goal for literacy proficiency, formerly known as English language arts, from 48% by 2023 to 63% by the 2025-26 school year for all students in grades three through eight.
The goal of improving math skills is even more ambitious. For fifth graders, the goal is to increase proficiency levels from 27% to 46% over the same period. For students in third through eighth grades, the target proficiency level will increase from 23% to 46%.
If “you have an overall proficiency rate of 23% in math, it’s a long way from showing significant improvement,” said Maryland Superintendent Carey Wright. “If you don’t set ambitious goals, you will never achieve them. And if you set the bar low, that’s what you get.”
Wright told state lawmakers this year that one of her education goals is to get Maryland in the top 10 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, by 2027. Currently, Maryland ranks 40th.
In addition to student performance, the state also wants to increase teacher diversity and retention.
About 46% of new teachers hired statewide this year were teachers of color. The boards aim to increase that to 55% by the 2026-2027 school year.
Schools are currently beating the goal of retaining 70% of teachers of color over three years, with the retention rate now at 74%. But both boards voted Tuesday to increase the retention rate goal to 78% over the next three years.
The state also wants to reduce chronic absenteeism by half, from 30% in the 2022-2023 school year to 15% in the 2025-2026 school year. Any student who misses 10% of school days is considered chronically absent.
While state law requires the Blueprint Board to give final approval to all documents, initiatives and proposals related to the Ten-Year Education Reform Plan, it must work with the state Department of Education on expertise to improve learning.
In connection with the department’s workforce diversity goals, they align with at least one of the Blueprint’s priorities: hiring and retaining high-quality and diverse teachers. The other four priorities, known as pillars, are early childhood education, providing additional resources for students in need, preparing students for college and technical careers, and governance and accountability.
Clarence Crawford, who held his final meeting as president of the state Board of Education on Tuesday, used a football analogy to assess the state’s work to improve overall education.
“What we want to do is build a dynasty, so we’re looking at the culture change needed to achieve the goal, but also the culture change needed to maintain the goal,” he said.
“This is not an academic exercise. We impact people’s lives. That’s the extent of it,” Crawford said. “It is within reach. It won’t be easy. There will be bumps along the way, but I believe we can get there.”
Plan blueprint
Both education bodies also discussed blueprint updates, including implementation plans submitted last month by every school district in the state to the blueprint board, also known as the AIB.
Over the past week, officials said, department and AIB staff reviewed plans from all 24 school districts with suggestions to revise the plans.
The May documents follow up on March brief reports, in which school officials responded to at least five questions and guidance from the state about the biggest challenges they face in implementing the plan.
No specific school district was mentioned Tuesday, but the plans revealed some common themes, including prioritizing outreach and stakeholder engagement, increasing collaboration with school district staff and local schools and identifying supports for students who do not meet the college and career readiness standard.
Emma Pellerin, director of implementation plans at the AIB, said six employees from her agency and 30 staff members from the department reviewed all 24 school district plans.
“It took about 10 hours to review each plan,” she said during the meeting.
State officials continue to review all school district plans, including possible revisions and other feedback.
AIB executive director Rachel Hise told reporters that some plans could “potentially” be approved by the Blueprint board on July 18.
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