Latest news with #ExcellenceinMarylandPublicSchoolsAct
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nonprofit's report calls for broad-based approach to improving reading scores
Alex Arianna during a reading lesson at Lincoln Elementary School. (Photo courtesy Frederick County Public Schools) Alice Tickler tries to stay positive when it comes to educating young children, but the longtime teacher admits there are some things that can make it hard — and it's not anything the students do. Things like the legislature's failure to fund a training program, specifically for reading and math teachers. As a teacher for 28 years, she's seen the benefits of what educators call a 'coaching program' can have. 'Seeing other teachers in action, having a mentor teacher that knows how to teach reading alongside of you or coaching you, that's huge,' said Tickler, a first-grade teacher in Queen Anne's County public schools. 'That coaching model would really benefit teachers.' Tickler's comments echo recommendations in a report being released Tuesday morning by Maryland READS, a nonprofit focused on the improvement of reading instruction. Providing consistent funding for teachers is just one of the recommendations in 'The State of Reading in Maryland 2025: It's Time for a Comeback after a Decade of Decline.' While the General Assembly approved the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act last week without funding for a training program, it did approve funding for a national teacher recruitment campaign and a $2,000 relocation grant to 'incentivize an out-of-state licensed teacher to move to the state.' The report's not all about funding, however, and acknowledges the state's financial difficulties. Similar to a report produced last year, Tuesday's document outlines recommendations to improve literacy, such as businesses providing employees time to serve as local tutors, and state and local leaders organizing town halls on digital education for families. Because of the state's fiscal challenges, the report suggests philanthropists provide financial and other resources to help create 'thriving, reading ecosystems.' According to the report, per pupil spending increased by 37% since 2013 through last year. During that time, National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores have constantly declined. 'Everything the state has done to put a system of support in place … gives us hope,' Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of Maryland READS, said in an interview. 'But I think the legislature needs to get on board a little bit more and trust her [State Superintendent Carey Wright] leadership because she has a proven track record, and I don't think they did that this time around.' Tuesday's document notes a report last year from the National Council on Teacher Quality. It gave Maryland and 19 other states an overall 'moderate' rating on teacher training programs based on five policy actions to strengthen implementation of the 'science of reading,' which Wright utilized as public schools leader in Mississippi and pushed to incorporate in Maryland. The council gave three ratings – strong, moderate and weak – not only for the total assessment of training programs, but also separate reviews of each policy action. On the policy statement, 'Reviews teacher-preparation programs to ensure they teach the Science of Reading,' Maryland received a 'weak' rating. Maryland READS recommends the state Department of Education 'should immediately exercise authority, including limiting grants and contracts, and hold Maryland teacher preparation programs accountable for aligning to Science of Reading by 2028.' According to the report, what will help teachers with literacy instruction is an agreement the department made last year to implement a four-year, $6.8 million grant from the nonprofit Ibis Group of Washington, D.C. About $5.3 million of that grant will be used for free online training in the science of reading for at least 30,000 paraprofessionals, teachers and other staff. The remaining $1.5 million would be for Johns Hopkins University and the department to research the impact of teacher efficacy, teacher background knowledge and literacy. But Brennan-Gac said additional and consistent support is needed. 'Having a coach in the classroom actually helps the teacher change their practice,' Brennan-Gac said. 'While it's wonderful that we've brought these training programs into the state, [but] if they don't get the coaching, we're not really leveraging that wonderful resource we have and this whole movement that we're doing.' Some other recommendations from the report to improve literacy include: Starting July 1, the department should collaborate with educators and organizations to begin work on drafting an adolescent literacy policy; The legislature should tie future funding to data related to proficiency rates at community schools, those that receive high concentration of poverty grants which provide a variety of wraparound and other services; and State, local and community leaders should educate parents and guardians on limiting the use of electronic devices for their children. 'We should do everything that we can to make sure that our children can read,' said Tickler, who serves on a statewide teacher advisory council created by the department this year. 'We don't want our children to enter that pipeline that takes them to jail or drugs. We want our kids to be successful and we want our kids to be literate.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Blueprint' gets a trim after session that threatened major cuts
Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel), right, responds to a question from House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) Monday on the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) It was one of the first issues to surface this year, and one of the last to be resolved, but lawmakers Monday approved compromise legislation to trim the Blueprint for Maryland's Future while keeping much of the multiyear plan intact. The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act passed Monday evening on largely party-line votes in the House and Senate. It delays implementation of 'collaborative time,' preserves funding for community schools and protects students in poverty, those in special education and those in classes for non-English speakers from any potential per pupil funding cuts. 'These are the students who really need help with the Blueprint. There is no pause, cut in funding whatsoever,' said Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George's and Anne Arundel), chair of the Appropriations Committee who helped navigate the agreement through a conference committee between chambers last week. The House voted 101-38 for House Bill 504 on Monday afternoon, and the Senate give the bill final approval a few hours later, on a 34-13 vote. The final product struck a balance between the plan put forth by Gov. Wes Moore (D) in January, when the state was in the first throes of its fight to close a $3 billion budget gap for fiscal 2026, and a less-severe package proposed by House. One major part of the agreement Monday deals with the implementation of 'collaborative time,' which provides teachers more out-of-classroom time to plan and work with each other on various subjects and also assess student achievement. School systems are supposed to start implementing collaborative time next year. House, Senate ratify budget compromise on final day The Moore administration had proposed a four-year delay in the start of collaborative time, both for the savings and for practical reasons. State school leaders have said that to fully implement collaborative time, the state would need at least 12,000 teachers at a time when the state faces a teacher shortage. The House wanted to keep next year's implementation date. The House and Senate ultimately agreed to pause the policy requirement for collaborative time for three years, but keep the funding amount at $163 per student for next fiscal year. It would stay at that level until fiscal 2029, when it would jump to $334 per student. Barnes said Monday evening that keeping the collaborative time funding for next fiscal year but deferring implementation should help local school leaders as they work on budgets for next school year. Local school officials have continuously sought more flexibility in the implementation of the Blueprint, now in its third year. Another compromise deals with the Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports, a part of the Blueprint plan that deals with mental health, behavioral and other wraparound services for students. The governor proposed $130 million for fiscal 2026, but the House proposed cutting it to $40 million a year. The Senate held out for $70 million next year and $100 million a year thereafter, which was approved in the final bill. Another provision dealt with community schools, which are buildings that receive concentration-of-poverty grants based on students who receive free and reduced-price meals. One key priority the House was able to secure deals with any funds retained at a school system's central office, money 'must be used solely to support implementation at the school level.' Paul Lemle, president of the state Maryland State Education Association, released a statement after the passage of the bill that gave it a mixed review. 'While there is a delay to increased funding dedicated for collaborative time implementation, the final bill is a significant improvement over where this conversation began in January,' Lemle said 'We were able to avoid the near-immediate, outsized cuts to expected funding for students in poverty and multilingual learners, in particular, and we protected the critical expansion of community schools and supports for students in concentrated poverty,' his statement said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate OKs Blueprint bills after debate over transgender scholastic athletes
Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) on the Senate floor Tuesday discussing his amendment he introduced on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future bill. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) The Senate gave final approval Tuesday to its version of a bill making changes to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, the state's 10-year, multibillion-dollar education reform plan. The 33-13 vote sets up a conference committee with the House, which has approved its own version of the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. The Senate also amended the House bill Tuesday to mirror its own version and now sends both bills to the lower chamber. While it was largely expected, Tuesday's party-line Senate vote was delayed for almost 25 minutes while senators debated an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to add language to the House bill that would prohibit transgender females from participating in women's sports in school. 'This amendment is to simply ensure that there is a level playing field for girl's sports at the high school level by allowing only biological girls to play on a high school interscholastic or intramural varsity or junior varsity team that is designated as a girls, female, or women's team or sport,' said Sen. Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll), the Senate minority whip and sponsor of the proposed amendment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'We want to protect the crucial role that women's sports have played in development of young women,' said Ready, who said his wife participated in track and field in high school and at Salisbury University, where they met. Sen. Ron Watson (D-Prince George's), the floor manager for the bill, said he supported the concept of Ready's amendment but that 'it's not germane to this bill.' But Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) supported the amendment, talking about her time as a tennis player in high school and at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She also read a letter from a volleyball player at her alma mater, Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin. 'While the other team was warming up, my teammates and I immediately noticed the strength and speed with which the biological male hit the volleyball,' Carozza read. 'It was apparent that the skills of the biological male surpassed anyone else on the court. My teammates and I were not only intimidated, but we feared for our safety.' Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City and Baltimore County), the first openly gay African-American member of the Maryland General Assembly and still only one in the Senate, also read a letter from a high school student. But this one highlighted came from the only female player on a co-ed soccer team who said she was 'bullied, ridiculed and harassed for six years.' 'If you want girls sports to be more fair, there are other ways to do it. But it's my belief that the people who don't want transgender women in sports and pass bills … should instead focus on providing more support for women in these other spaces,' Washington read, before voting against the amendment. 'In not allowing transgender girls to participate in women's sports, we continue a long history of policing women's bodies,' Washington said. Even Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) offered a few words before he voted against the amendment. 'When I've had conversations with transgender young people who are trying to find themselves and live in a community, the pain and suffering that so many of them have felt, feeling out of place and not having a spot in this world is unbelievably painful,' he said. 'So, when I think about how we should be educating kids, it should be about what is in the best interest of children.' The Senate voted 27-17 to reject the amendment, before voting to make the House bill conform to the Senate version. Local school officials have long asked for more flexibility in the implementation of the Blueprint, now in its third year, and with the state facing a $3 billion budget shortfall this year, many targeted the school reform plan as an area for savings. Gov. Wes Moore (D) in January proposed a bill that deferred the start of some programs in the Blueprint and would slow the pace of some budget planned budget increases. The House approved its version of the Blueprint reform bill earlier this month, rejecting cuts in per pupil funding and eliminating a four-year pause on the implementation of teacher collaborative time, both elements in the governor's plan. The House voted for a one-year pause in the start of collaborative time. The Senate bill is more closely aligned with the governor's bill on the per pupil funding and collaborative time provisions. House members are expected to reject the Senate's changes to the House bill, creating the need for a conference committee to work out compromise language between the two chambers. That agreement will need to come before Monday night, the closing day of the 2025 General Assembly session,
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blueprint reform bill continues to advance, heads to full Senate next
A bill tweaking the Blueprint for Maryland's Future education reforms got out of a second Senate committee Wednesday and heads to the full Senate this week -- and a likely showdown with the House. (File photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters) A Senate committee voted Wednesday to accept an amended version of its Blueprint for Maryland's Future education reform plan and send it to the full chamber, where a debate is expected to take place Friday. The Budget and Taxation Committee 9-4 vote not only accepts portions of the 'Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act' first submitted by Gov. Wes Moore (D), but it also voted to make the House version approved earlier this month conform to the Senate version. If approved by the full Senate sometime early next week, then both bills will be sent back to the House. Because the delegates rejected many of the governor's proposals, such as a four-year pause in the phase-in of collaborative time for teachers, the House is expected to reject the Senate plan, setting up a conference committee to hash out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The last day of the legislative session is April 7. Before its vote Wednesday, the committee discussed amendments approved Tuesday night by the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee, which focused on provisions that mainly deal with statewide and local school system programs and initiatives. Some members of the Budget and Taxation Committee, which approved the fiscal items in the bill, had questions on some programs such as instructional coaches. There are about 800 coaches throughout the state, but officials with the state Department of Education said before the Senate education committee Tuesday another 200 would need to be hired under the Blueprint. About 63% of the current coaches are located in five of the state's 24 school systems, and three school systems – in Western Maryland, Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore – have no coaches. Alex Reese, chief of staff at the department, said Tuesday the 'best practice' is a 12-to1 ratio of teachers to a coach, but the current ratio is more like 79:1. Under the bill, coaches would be housed in the department's new Academic Excellence Program that would provide coaching for teachers and administrators at schools with 'low proficiency rates and declining achievement results in recent years.' During fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the focus would be on literacy in elementary schools. The program is estimated to cost $17 million next year, which would also include hiring regional program managers to support instructional coaches to provide evidence-based tools and strategies, professional development materials and other guidance. Sen. Michael Jackson (D-Prince George's Calvert and Charles) wanted to know why three school systems have no coaches. Mike Thomas, deputy legislative officer for the governor, said some instructional coaches went back into the classroom to help teach. Jackson, who voted for the bill, wasn't pleased that no one from the department appeared Wednesday. 'That's a little troubling for me. This is an important matter,' he said. 'We all want to get this right. This is talking about accountability at all levels.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blueprint education plan inches forward in Senate, confrontation with House looms
Educators were called to anxwer question so the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee as it debated an education reform bill. From right, they are Joy Schaefer, Alex Reese, Elise Brown, Mike Thomas and Mary Pat Fannon. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters) The state's sweeping education reform bill took another painstaking step forward Tuesday, when a second Senate committee give it preliminary OK and rejected a separate House version. But the 6-2 vote by the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee merely sends the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act back to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, which needs to agree to the latest changes before sending the bill to the full Senate. From there, the bill has to go back to the House, which will likely reject the Senate plan before convening a conference committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. All with less than two weeks left in the legislative session. Besides approving Senate Bill 429 Tuesday, the committee also known as Triple-E voted to make the House version conform to the Senate version, rejecting several cuts on collaborative time and per pupil funding first proposed by Gov. Wes Moore (D). Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) abstained because 'there's still more to work do on such an important bill,' she said after the committee meeting that lasted more than two hours. One major difference the committee approved versus the House version deals with community schools, those schools where at least 75% of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. According to the state Department of Education, about half of the state's schools have that community school designation. The committee agreed with the governor's proposal to require that all 24 school systems develop countywide Blueprint implementation plans focused strictly on community schools. The House struck that proposal, noting that local school officials already have to submit plans to the state Department of Education and the Accountability and Implementation Board, as part of the overall Blueprint for Maryland's Future 10-year reform plan. The board began to approve updated Blueprint plans in October. Tuesday's discussion became a bit animated when it came to instructional coaches. State Department of Education officials said the state currently has 803 instructional coaches, experienced educators who help administrators, teachers and other 'education professionals' learn how to prepare lesson plans, assess student data and other duties. The goal is to hire up to 200 additional coaches in a four-year period. Elise Brown, assistant state superintendent for instructional programs and services, said about 63% of the current coaches work in only five school systems. 'We do not see an equal distribution,' she said. Alex Reese, chief of staff at the department who attended the meeting to represent State Superintendent Carey Wright, said the average ratio of teachers to coaches is 79 to 1. Reese said three school systems – one in Western Maryland, one on the Eastern Shore and another in Southern Maryland – have no instructional coaches. 'Best practice would be for a coach to coach a maximum of 12 teachers,' he said. Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D-Howard and Montgomery) asked what's the annual salary for an instructional coach. Reese said the base salary is about $125,000. Although Fry Hester supports instructional coaches, she said some of that money to seek coaches could be used to hire additional personnel in cybersecurity and other technology for schools. 'We have one person in the entire state of Maryland, at the state level, looking out for cybersecurity for the local schools,' said Fry Hester. But she agreed to withhold an amendment to add additional personnel toward cyber security after committee chair Sen. Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery) said more information was needed. 'We're immediately going to lose 200 teachers,' Fry Hester said. 'We're already short on teachers.'
