The Maryland State Board of Education is trying to define what career and college readiness looks like for students.
In a public hearing Thursday night, representatives from the state education department presented a new proposed pathway for students to achieve the college and career readiness (CCR) status.
“We're embarking upon something new,” said Clarence Crawford, president of the state board of education. “We embark upon this with our eyes wide open, recognizing that as we learn more and gain more experience, there may be a need to adjust, modify, course-correct.”
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the multi-billion-dollar legislation reforming education in the state, hopes to have all students achieve readiness by the end of 10th grade. Schools will receive per-pupil funding for each qualified student.
“Therefore, your adoption of a fair and equitable standard is more important than ever,” said Mary Pat Fannon, leader of the Public School Superintendents' Association of Maryland, “so that we can provide necessary opportunities and pathways for all students.”
Under the new standards, students would qualify as career and college ready by earning a 3.0 GPA in their first two years of high school, and passing either an Algebra 1 course or the state standardized MCAP test.
Students still have the option to achieve CCR status through the original standards adopted in February 2022, which requires scoring proficient on both an English and math MCAP test.
But study results from the American Institute of Research showed that adding GPA increases the number of students qualified as ready from 40% of Maryland 10th graders to 64% – and the effectiveness of the prediction, with 75% of GPA-qualified students earning at least 12 college credits in their first semester of college.
State education leaders praised the inclusion of GPA for those exact reasons. But many questioned the focus on Algebra 1 skills over other subjects.
Most also called for further development of criteria for non-college-bound students – and how to support students who do not reach CCR level by 10th grade, but must before graduation.
Algebra isn’t always necessary to succeed
Local leaders say math skills are important to career and college readiness – but not always, and not the most important.
“Algebra 1 certainly creates the initial foundation for a calculus-based education,” said Acting Secretary of Higher Education Sanjay Rai. “But not all career pathways require a calculus-based mathematical education.”
Some leaders say the Algebra 1 requirements are largely unattainable. Joe Sutton, supervisor of secondary mathematics for Calvert County Schools, said no student in his district was able to hit the requirements.
“A hypothetical student with a D in algebra just so rarely has both a 3.0 GPA and a 750 in the Algebra 1 MCAP,” he said.
Diamonté Brown, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said the odds are even slimmer for marginalized students.
“And not because Black and brown children have inherently lesser math skills than their white counterparts,” Brown said in an interview with WYPR. “But because historically, we have failed to give schools that have predominantly Black and brown children the resources that they need and deserve. And unfortunately, that's led to math proficiency scores being very low.”
Only 6% of students in Baltimore City scored proficient or higher on last year’s Algebra 1 test. Less than a quarter of Maryland students did the same.
Fannon, leader of the state superintendent association, said the focus on Algebra 1 also raises complicated questions about students who don’t meet criteria the first time – but need to reassess before graduation.
“The current proposals lack a plan for further reassessment,” she said. “For example, re-taking Algebra 1 doesn't seem to be the right path.”
The flaws of standardized testing
Some leaders said test scores – especially statewide standardized ones – are a flawed source of data.
“We know some students don't test well; we know those tests are racially-biased,” said Cindy Sexton, president of the Baltimore County teachers union, in an interview with WYPR. “So we're just not sure all the standardized testing that our students get is the best way to measure what they can and can't do.”
Brown added that using test scores as a metric won’t naturally inspire improvement.
“If it’s not paired with resources and funding, it’s a setup,” she said.
Liz Zogby, director of the Special Education Policy & Advocacy Project, said students with disabilities are even less likely to hit standards based on statewide tests. There was a 43 percentage point gap on English 10 MCAP scores between disabled and nondisabled students last year, she said.
“While some students will accelerate their progress, many students with disabilities will be left even further behind,” she said.
This would also affect access to career and technical education programs, which are largely reserved for students who achieve CCR status, Zogby said.
Many students who are career-focused, not college-bound, may also be locked out of programs unnecessarily – especially because Algebra 1 is irrelevant to their focus, leaders said. Some called for industry standard tests to be offered as a career-specific pathway.
Others called on the board to develop multiple alternative standards.
Shamoyia Gardiner, director of Strong Schools Maryland, the group who led advocacy efforts for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, said state board members should “be bold” in the career and college readiness standards they adopt.
“We know the Blueprint requires a paradigm shift,” she said at Thursday’s hearing. “And so we're doing things differently here. And that may be new and daunting. But frontiers are uncomfortable. That's why a lot of people aren't on them.”
