Maryland’s multi-billion-dollar, multi-year education overhaul is entering its fourth school year with even more demands and deadlines on the docket.
But as local districts face the reality of putting the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future in action on the ground level, many changes are running behind schedule.
In a Wednesday meeting of the Accountability and Implementation Board, the Blueprint’s statewide governing body, Executive Director Rachel Hise said no district has completed all six criteria necessary to receive full funding.
The major hold-ups vary by local school district. But many are pending approval on multi-year budget plans and new career ladders for teachers.
Baltimore City is a snapshot of the mixed bag of local Blueprint progress. Sandi Jacobs, the city’s point-person for Blueprint implementation, said the reform “hasn't been a major shift in priorities.”
“We've had an equity focus for a long time,” she said. “We have had weighted student funding where our funds follow students to schools based on their needs. We've had pre-K for a long time. We've had community schools for a long time.”
The district is also one of only seven to receive approval on their years-long budget outline. But the city still hasn’t even submitted a career ladder proposal – way behind the July 1 deadline.
Negotiations have stalled for months. Zach Taylor, director of research and negotiations for the Baltimore Teachers Union, said that’s because they want to add extra steps before educators can earn the Blueprint’s required salary increase for national board certification.
“Every other place in the state says, ‘No, you'll get the $10,000 because you earned this national board certification, and we want to incentivize you to stay in your classroom, to stay with your students,’” Taylor told WYPR. “Our district has not clarified what these additional duties would be. It's sort of a blank check that they want.”
Taylor said less than 100 Baltimore teachers are nationally certified. But Maryland out-performed all other states in December, with 725 teachers earning the title for the first time. Hise said 123 of those were teachers of color, ranking second in the country.
“It is not enough,” Hise said. “So not to suggest that we're claiming victory, because as a percentage, we really need to increase the number of teachers of color who are earning national board. But the number of teachers pursuing the national board has increased significantly.”
Local districts are also staring down upcoming deadlines for shifts to the science of reading, developing new math plans, and pre-K expansion. And each sector comes with its own challenges – forcing leaders on-the-ground and at the state level to re-evaluate.
How is Maryland adjusting to Blueprint barriers?
State and local education leaders are still trying to figure out how to best support teachers hoping to become nationally certified. Hise said the state offers some funding, but most of the work happens in local mentorship and study groups – and those programs vary.
This hodge-podge model of support rings true for many efforts to address Blueprint challenges.
For example, Hise said, the state is reserving $3.6 million to send budget consultants to local districts to help get multi-year plans on track. But some shortfalls are modified by state lawmakers to bring more deadline flexibility, like private pre-K partnership requirements and per-pupil funding.
The Blueprint calls for all districts to offer free pre-K to low-income children by next fall – and open subsidized seats for families earning between 83 and 100 thousand dollars per year.
Jacobs said Baltimore City already had this sliding-scale model in place. Last year, the district served 250 children from that second income tier.
“But as far as the Blueprint’s goals of perfectly mixed, balanced public and private delivery, that's going to be a challenge here,” Jacobs said. “Because we started from a place of serving almost 4,000 kids.”
In January, every district but one failed to hit the original Blueprint goal of placing one-third of toddlers in private pre-K. So state lawmakers changed the benchmark to 10% by this October.
Hise, who’s on Maryland’s Blueprint implementation board, said this can be attributed to multiple factors. There are fewer pre-K providers now than there were pre-pandemic, when the Blueprint was written. And business margins are tighter.
“Originally the law required pre-K teachers to have early childhood certifications by the 25-26 school year,” Hise added. “But legislation passed that is going to push that deadline out to 27-28. So that gives providers and folks who are working full-time more time to earn the additional certification that they need to to meet the high quality requirements.”
State lawmakers also passed bills guaranteeing full per-pupil funding for pre-K by 2027, three years ahead of the initial Blueprint timeline.
“We're very hopeful that those changes really will allow more private providers to participate in the program, and put more kids in full day pre-K,” Hise said. “The whole point of that is so we've got children coming into kindergarten that already have that foundation, and they're not starting from behind.”
Next steps: improving student performance in reading, math
Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright gave the green-light for all districts to begin shifting to the science of reading for elementary students, after reviewing the reading plans submitted in March. Secondary grade proposals are still pending.
Hise said district leaders are now drafting similar curriculum overhauls for math, which are due for all grades by July 1.
“A lot of it is really looking at, what is the core instruction?” she said. “And then having what's called a multitier system of support to provide additional instruction for students that are not grasping the concepts.”
Hise said a key shift will be budgeting extra tutoring and small group instruction into the school day.
Jacobs, Baltimore’s Blueprint coordinator, said these changes go hand-in-hand with the implementation of new college and career readiness standards – which require students to show proficiency on state standardized tests in math and reading by tenth grade.
Those who don’t hit the mark are then set on alternative paths to boost their skills by graduation. Those who do are given additional opportunities to further their success.
“It’s primarily about how we are strengthening our overall offerings,” she said. “So how are we starting out with our pre-K program? And then all through elementary and middle grades, how are we both putting students on track, and then making sure that they're staying on track, to be able to meet the standard?”
For city schools, Jacobs says that means looking to ninth grade on-track-to-graduate facilitators. It also means expanding AP and technical education programs.
Paul Lemle, president of the Maryland State Education Association and a social studies teacher in Howard County, said providing extra pathways and support is a staffing puzzle.
He also said teachers have to figure out how to “teach creatively” to boost proficiency on state test scores.
“But our teachers are up to it,” Lemle said. “They're working hard to make sure students are ready for those assessments. It's just something we really want to keep our eye on in terms of allowing for innovative and creative teaching while making sure our students are prepared for the next level, be it colleges or careers.”
