State of Maryland Public Education 2012

7/31/2019 State of Maryland Public Education 2012

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A MARYLANDCAN RESEARCH REPORT


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THE STATE

OF MARYLANDPUBLIC EDUCATIONBRIDGE THE GAPS:

A 2012 REPORT CARD FOR OUR STATES

PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC POLICIES

PREFACEBYCURTIS VALENTINEMARYLANDCANFOUNDINGEXECUTIVEDIRECTOR

This report was published

in February 2012 by MarylandCAN:

The Maryland Campaign for

Achievement Now.

To order copies of this report,

please contact MarylandCAN

at [email protected]

MarylandCAN: The Maryland

Campaign for Achievement Now

4601 Presidents Drive, Suite 240

Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.marylandcan.org

Design & Layout

house9design.ca


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Table of Contents

Preface 4

ExecutiveSummary 5

1 MarylandStudentAchievement 6

Maryland vs. the World 7

2 MarylandsAchievementGap 9

The Black-White Gap 9

The Hispanic-White Gap 11

The Income Gap 11

The Graduation Gap 11

3 GreatSchools=GreatJobs 14

4 TheStateofMarylandEducationPolicy 16

Race to the Top Progress 16

5 BridgetheGapsMarylandCANs2012PolicyAgenda 18

Bridge 1: Jumpstart Charter School Innovation 19

Bridge 2: Fund Quality Pre-K for All 19Bridge 3: Champion Active Parent Participation 20

6 PrinciplesforReform 21


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MARYLANDCANTHE STATE OF MARYLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION,

PrefaceCURTIS VALENTINE

MARYLANDCANFOUNDINGEXECUTIVEDIRECTOR

Like so many Maryland parents, I wake up every morning and entrust

my most precious possession to a public school. I send my son o for

the day, hoping that his school treats him and loves him just the way

that I do and gives him everything that he needs to succeed.

After I help get Curtis Jr. dressed and fed and out the door on

our way to his school, I often pause on my doorstep to look out at the

Wilson Bridge. Maryland is surrounded by water on three sides and is

home to over 100 bridges. Our bridges are a symbol for us Marylanders

of what we must and will do as a state to overcome educational inequal-

ity: bridge the gaps.

We have a lot to be proud of in Maryland when it comes to educating

our kids. As thisState of Maryland Public Education 2012 report shows,

we lead the nation on many performance measures. But this report also

reveals the underbelly of that success: we struggle to serve all Maryland

students. We are home to deep achievement gaps between the haves

and have-nots in our state. And even our best achieving students dont

fare all that well when compared to their peers overseas.

Those gaps are why I became founding executive director of Mary-

landCAN. The day after the 2008 presidential election, where I was

regional eld director here in Maryland, everyone I saw asked me

the same question. They said, Curtis, whats next? MarylandCAN is

whats next.MarylandCANs inaugural 2012 legislative campaign, calledBridge

the Gaps, will help enact policies to bridge our states achievement

gaps. My sta will work to bridge the gaps between public ocials and

their constituents to make sure that the voices in support of education

reform are heard. We will bridge the gaps between people of dierent

political persuasions and walks of life in Maryland who all believe that

great schools change everything and want to come together in support

of commonsense policies.

The work that we do is not just for Marylands children. Its also for

my own. It is time to build a movement of Marylanders with the politi-cal will to enact smart public policies so that every Maryland child has

access to a great public school. I hope youll join me.


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Executive Summary

MarylandCANs mission is simple: to ensure that every Maryland child,

regardless of race, ethnicity or class, has access to a great public school.

The State of Maryland Public Education 2012 report shows why our

work to build bridges between the haves and have-nots is so critical.

This report scrutinizes all of the available data on Marylands K12

public school performance, including how our students are doing on

both state and national assessments, how prepared they are for college

and how they stack up against each other, the rest of the country and the

world. It also discusses where we stand on implementing our winning

Race to the Top applications and the needed steps to reform Maryland

education policies.

Some highlights include:

Maryland schools are producing some of our nations best students. On

the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, also

known as the Nations Report Card, Maryland fourth-graders ranked

fth in the country in math and third in the country in reading.

More Maryland students are learning at high levels. Maryland has the

highest percentage of high school graduates in the country that score 3

or higher on the AP exam.

Success masks a dark underbelly of Maryland student achievement. Onthe 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, Maryland has

the second largest disparity in the country between the academic per-

formance of low-income students and their wealthier peers in eighth-

grade math. We have the fourth largest gap in eighth-grade reading.

The achievement gap is pronounced for Maryland Hispanic students

and black students. On the Maryland School Assessment, 57 percent

of Hispanic students and 46 percent of black students met the pro-

ciency benchmark while 81 percent of white students did in eighth-

grade math.

The achievement gap is growing. On the 2011 National Assessment of

Educational Progress, only 18 percent of black students in eighth grade

scored at least procient on the math exam, compared to 56 percent of

white students. This 38-point performance gap is higher than it was in

1990 when the gap was 19 percentage points.

1http://apreport.collegeboard.org/

sites/deault/fles/downloads/pds/

AP_RTN_2011.pd

2http://msp.msde.state.md.us/Assessments.aspx?K=99AAAA

3 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreport

card/naepdata/dataset.aspx


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We are not living up to the promise of school choice. Maryland is ranked

40 out of 41 states with public charter school laws on the books.4

The Big Picture: Maryland

Student Achievement

The latest results on Maryland students standardized tests tell a story:

our students, on the whole, are achieving at very high levels compared

to any other state in the country. Our public schools are doing us proud.

But by digging just a bit deeper, these achievements appear as sources

of shame rather than pride because we are leaving behind very clear

segments of our student population.

Lets start with the good news. Maryland students overall are per-

forming at very high levels compared to other states across the country.

Maryland has the highest percentage of high school graduates in the

country who have had a successful AP experience, meaning that

they took an AP course and scored at least a three or better on the

exam. Twenty-six percent of Maryland graduates had a successful AP

experience, which is well above the national average of 16.9 percent.

Since 2000, Maryland has achieved the largest percent increase in the

country of the number of graduates with a successful AP experience, anincrease of 11.6 percent.5

Maryland can also be proud of its high participation and success

rate on the ACT. Thirty-one percent of participants reached the ACT

college readiness benchmarks in four main subject areas: English,

reading, math and science, beating the national average of 25 percent.

Maryland students are also well prepared for the ACT. A full 81 percent

of test-takers completed a core curriculum consisting of four years of

English, three years of math and three years of social studies in high

school. Marylands high percentage of test-takers indicates that the

majority of students have access to coursework that prepares them forthe rigor of college.

Maryland students performed very well on the 2011 National Assess-

ment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nations Report Card,8

a national test given every two years to students in every state in the

nation. On the most recent Nations Report Card, Maryland fourth-grad-

ers ranked fth in the country in math and third in the country in reading.

4 http://charterlaws.publiccharters

.org/charterlaws/state/MD

5http://apreport.collegeboard.org/

sites/deault/fles/downloads/pds/

AP_RTN_2011.pd

6 College Readiness benchmarks

are empirically derived scores that,

if achieved, indicate a student has a

50 percent chance of achieving a B

grade in a intro level college course

on that subject.

7http://www.act.org/newsroom/

data/2011/pd/profle/Maryland.pd

8http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreport

card/naepdata/dataset.aspx


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7MARYLANDCANTHE STATE OF MARYLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION,

Maryland students also improved over time in both subjects. Our

fourth-graders progressed dramatically, increasing the percentage of

students who scored procient or above on the math exam from just

18 percent in 1992 to 48 percent in 2011. Maryland fourth-graders also

improved signicantly in reading, with 43 percent scoring procient or

above in 2011 compared to only 24 percent in 1992.

That same steady improvement for our students is also reected in

the results on the Maryland School Assessments, an annual exam given

to all students in grades three through eight in reading and math and

grades ve and eight for science. High school students in Maryland

take the High School Assessments and must pass the subject-specic

exams in order to graduate and receive a diploma.

Over 88 percent of fourth-graders scored a procient or above on

the Maryland School Assessment in reading in 2011, compared to 75

percent in 2004. Our eighth-graders maintained steady growth and

high achievement, improving their overall prociency in reading from

60 percent in 2003 to 83 percent in 2011.

Maryland vs. the World

Maryland students are performing well when compared to other Ameri-

can states, but Maryland is much less competitive when stacked up di-

rectly against other industrialized countries. The news is sobering. The

report U.S. Math Performance in a Global Perspective, completed by Har-

vards Program on Education Policy and the Taubman Center for State

and local government, looks at scores on the 2005 Nations ReportCard. The report then compares each states scores with the scores of

other countries on the Program for International Student Assessment.

The basic nding is that no state in the country is competitive with

any of the worlds leading industrial nations. The highest ranked state is

Massachusetts, which is still out performed by 14 other countries. Even

Marylands top achieving white students rank ninth compared to other

U.S. states, but are outperformed by 16 other top industrialized nations,

scoring similarly to students in Denmark, Iceland, Slovenia and Poland.

Even among advanced students with at least one parent with a four-

year degree, Maryland students lag behind students in industrializedcountries such as Germany, Canada, Japan, Finland and Taiwan. This

global achievement gap will have a detrimental aect on Marylanders

ability to compete internationally for the jobs of tomorrow.

9http://msp.msde.state.md.us/

Entity.aspx?WDATA=State

10http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG10-19

_HanushekPetersonWoessmann.pd

11 PISA is an international test that

compares math, reading and science

scores with member countries of

the OECD. Comparisons are made

between 50 countries including the

top industrialized nations.


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SOURCEhttp://apreport.college

board.org/sites/deault/fles/

downloads/pds/AP_RTN_2011.pd

FIGURE PercentofClassofGraduatesWhoHadatLeastOneSuccessfulAPExperience

Mississippi

Louisiana

NorthDakota

Nebraska

Missouri

WestVirginia

Wyoming

Iowa

Arizona

Alabama

Hawaii

Kans

as

Tenn

essee

New

Mexico

Oklahoma

RhodeIsland

Sout

hDakota

Idaho

Montana

Ohio

Kent

ucky

India

na

Arka

nsas

Penn

sylvania

Oreg

on

Alaska

Neva

da

Mich

igan

Sout

hCarolina

Delaware

Texas

New

Hampshire

Minn

esota

Washington

Illinois

NorthCarolina

Wisc

onsin

New

Jersey

Main

e

Georgia

Utah

Colorado

Verm

ont

Florida

California

Mass

achusetts

Connecticut

Virginia

New

York

Mary

land


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Marylands

Achievement Gap

The astounding accomplishments of Marylands public schools are un-

dermined when we look more closely inside the numbers. The 2011 Na-

tions Report Card reveals that Maryland has the second largest dispar-

ity in the country between the academic performance of low-income

students and their wealthier peers in eighth-grade math and the fourth

largest gap in eighth-grade reading. Poor Maryland students are more

than three grade levels behind more economically advantaged students

in eighth-grade math.

Marylands own state assessment shows us that 71 percent of low-

income students in eighth grade scored at least a procient on the

reading exam, compared to 91 percent of more advantaged students.

The gap is not along economic divides only. In 2011, 91 percent of

white students in eighth grade scored at least procient in reading on

the state assessment, but 72 percent of black students and 77 percent of

Hispanic students did. Similarly, in eighth-grade math, only 46 percent

of black students and 57 percent of Hispanic students met the pro-

ciency benchmark while 81 percent of white students did.

Even more startling, when these numbers are sorted by grade, it is

clear that the achievement gap is enduring and widening as students

progress through school to the eighth grade. Some 84 percent of His-

panic third-graders and 76 percent of black third-graders scored at

least procient in math. But by eighth grade, only 57 percent of His-panic eighth-graders scored procient or better in math and only 46

percent of black students did. The achievement gap widened from

1015 percentage points to 2030 percentage points in just ve years.

By eighth grade, only 47 percent of Marylands low-income students

scored at least procient on the math exam.

The Black-White Gap

On the 2011 Nations Report Card, only 18 percent of black students in

eighth grade scored at least a procient on the math exam, comparedto 56 percent of white students. This 38-point performance gap is

higher than it was in 1990 when the gap was 19 percentage points. Only

22 percent of black fourth-graders scored at least procient on the

national reading exam in 2011, while 56 percent of their white class-

mates did. These scores are consistent through eighth grade in which

only 21 percent of our black eighth-graders scored at least procient in

12 Ten points on the NAEP are

the rough equivalent of one grade

levels prociency in reading and

math. A 30-point gap is therefore

approximately a three-grade level

dierence. Scale Score dierence:

298.8-266.4


Assessments.aspx?K=99AAAA


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W

hite

Black

Hispanic

Poor

Non-Poor

SOURCE http://msp.msde.state

.md.us/Entity.aspx?WDATA=StateFIGURE MarylandSchoolAssessmentProciency,byRaceandIncomeLevel,Grade

Math

Reading


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reading. This means that 79 percent of our black eighth-grade students

are reading below grade level. It follows that when these children enter

high school, nearly 80 percent of black students will be unprepared

to read grade-level material. By way of contrast, 52 percent of white

eighth-grade students scored a procient in reading.

Hispanic-White Gap

Likewise, the data illustrate signicant and persistent gaps between

Marylands Hispanic students and their white classmates. Maryland

has some of the highest achievement gaps between Hispanic and white

students in the country and is ranked quite poorly compared to other

neighboring states. For example, we are ranked 38th out of 46 states

for our Hispanic-white achievement gap in eighth-grade math and

Hispanic eighth-graders are more than three grade levels behind their

white classmates. 4 Further, Maryland ranks 27th out of 45 states for

the Hispanic-white gap in eighth-grade reading. Marylands achieve-

ment gap between Hispanic students and white students has also

widened signicantly over time. The achievement gap between His-

panic students and white students today is 29 percent in eighth-grade

math, compared to 1990 when the gap was 11 percent.

The Income Gap

Only 18 percent of low-income eighth-graders are procient in reading

and 17 percent are procient in math. As a result, low-income studentsin the eighth grade are more than two grade levels behind their more

advantaged classmates in reading5 and more than three grade levels

in math.

The Graduation Gap

State and national assessments only tell one part of the achievement

gap narrative in Maryland. There are also signicant disparities in high

school graduation rates between white students and students of color

and between low-income students and their wealthier peers. In 2010,82 percent of all Maryland graduates in the four-year adjusted cohort

graduated from high school and 88 percent of white students did. Com-

paratively, 74 percent of black students and 73 percent of Hispanic stu-

dents completed their high school education and received a diploma.

Inequities in graduation rates are even more pronounced at the college

level. In 2009, the Governors Workforce Investment Board reported

14 Scale Score dierence:

303.2-273


279.9-252.8


298.8-266.4


Graduation.aspx?K=99AAAA


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SOURCE http://nces.ed.gov/

nationsreportcard/naepdata/

dataset.aspx

FIGURE Black-WhiteAchievementGap,thGradeMath

Pennsylvania

Maryland

New

Jersey

Colorado

Texas

Minnesota

Con

necticut

Wisconsin

Ohio

Illinois

NorthCarolina

Mas

sachusetts

Nation

Washington

Nev

ada

Neb

raska

Virg

inia

Kan

sas

Alaska

Rho

deIsland

Sou

thCarolina

Indiana

Delaware

California

Missouri

Michigan

Geo

rgia

Arkansas

Ariz

ona

New

York

Iowa

Sou

thDakota

Flor

ida

New

Mexico

Oklahoma

Mississippi

Maine

Louisiana

Ken

tucky

Alabama

Tennessee

Oregon

Haw

aii

WestVirginia


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SOURCE http://nces.ed.gov/

nationsreportcard/naepdata/

dataset.aspx

FIGURE Poor/Noon-PoorAchievementGap,thGradeReading

Conn

ecticut

Mary

land

New

Jersey

Mass

achusetts

Colorado

Wisc

onsin

Virginia

Penn

sylvania

Verm

ont

Minn

esota

Texas

Rhod

eIsland

Ohio

NorthCarolina

Kans

as

Illinois

SouthCarolina

Natio

n

Nebraska

Geor

gia

Washington

SouthDakota

Oreg

on

Iowa

Kentucky

Delaware

Florida

California

Arkansas

Arizo

na

New

York

Michigan

India

na

New

Mexico

Montana

Missouri

Maine

Utah

Alaska

Tennessee

Oklahoma

NorthDakota

Mississippi

Idaho

Alabama

New

Hampshire

Louisiana

Neva

da

Wyoming

Hawaii

WestVirginia


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that only 44 percent of black Maryland high school graduates entered

college and graduated within six years of enrolling. This gure is com-

pared to 71 percent of white students.8

Great Schools Great Jobs

Maryland enjoys a healthy, diverse economy. Marylands unemploy-

ment rate of 7.2 percent is well below the national average of nine

percent. Median income in Maryland is well above the poverty line

at $102,000 for a family of four. Maryland also has a highly educated

work force, with 36 percent of workers holding a bachelors degree, and

16 percent of workers holding an advanced degree. We are ranked fourth

and third respectively in the nation for these degrees. But an aging

population and large achievement gaps threaten Marylands future.

The aggregate income of all Marylanders would increase by $6 billion

if black, Hispanic and Native American students were to achieve at the

same level of white students by 2020.4 Nine out of every 100 Mary-

landers without a high school degree are in jail.5 Marylands economic

vitality, global competitiveness and social well-being are tied directly

to closing the achievement gap.

Some 77 percent of new Maryland jobs will require some sort ofpost-secondary education by 2018, but only 44 percent of Mary-

land adults currently hold an associates degree or higher. Maryland

must prepare to ll the demand for middle-skill and high-skill workers

in order to remain economically viable, just as we must prepare our

workers of tomorrow to compete internationally for 21st century jobs.

19http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/

laumstrk.htm

20 Note: This is the unemployment

rate from October 2011

21http://www.bls.gov/bls/unemploy

ment.htm22http://www.census.gov/hhes/

www/income/data/statemedian/

index.html

23http://www.bls.gov/ro3/ro3

_md.htm

24http://www.all4ed.org/fles/

demography.pd

25http://www.mdworkorce.com/

pub/pd/gwibindicators2010.pd

26 Ibid.

27http://achieve.org/fles/Maryland

-CCRFactSheet-July2011.pd

18http://www.gwib.maryland.gov/

news/youthsummit/yspolicydrat

.pd


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FIGURE Only%ofMarylandadultshaveapost-secondarydegreeBut,By,%ofallnewjobsinMarylandwillbemiddle-andhigh-skillpositions

SOURCEhttp://achieve.org/fles/

Maryland-CCRFactSheet-July2011.pd;

http://www.mdworkorce.com/pub/

pd/gwibindicators2010.pd

Middle- and High-Skill

Workers

Middle- and High-Skill

Job Opportunitites


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The State of Maryland

Education Policy

A 2009 report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which ranked all 50

states in a number of categories including teacher and principal evalu-

ations and hiring practices, school management and removing ineec-

tive teachers from schools, found that Maryland stacks up well com-

pared to the nation in key areas such as teacher hiring and evaluation

and its pipeline to post-secondary education.8

But, Maryland earned an F grade for its policies that prevent the

removal of ineective teachers from schools. Seventy-two percent of

principals report that teacher unions or associations are a barrier to the

removal of ineective teachers and 73 percent of principals report that

tenure is a barrier to removing poor-performing teachers. As a result,

district and school leaders do not have the exibility to dismiss inef-

fective teachers from the classroom. In this category, Maryland ranks

47th, ahead of only West Virginia, Nevada and Hawaii.

Race to the Top Progress

In 2010, Maryland was one of nine states and the District of Columbia

to be awarded a competitive U.S. Department of Education Race to the

Top grant. This historic $4.35 billion grant was awarded to states who

embraced reform in four key areas:

Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students

to succeed in college and the workplace.

Building data systems that measure student growth and success,

and inform teachers and principals how to improve instruction.

Recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining eective teachers

and principals, especially where they are needed most.

Turning around their lowest-performing schools.

Maryland scored an impressive 461 points out of 500 points, earning

almost full marks in creating high standards and assessments, aligningand building comprehensive data systems and implementing process-

es that produce great teachers and leaders.

For our comprehensive plan, we were awarded $250 million over

four years. $125 million will be allocated for implementing education

reform on a systems level, while the remaining $125 million will be ad-

ministered to 22 local school districts. Race to the Top money will be

29http://www.ed.gov/news/press

-releases/nine-states-and-district

-columbia-win-second-round-race

-top-grants

30http://www2.ed.gov/programs/

racetothetop/phase2-applications/

score-sheets/maryland.pd

28http://icw.uschamber.com/sites/

deault/fles/LL-2009-16-USCC.pd


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7MARYLANDCANTHE STATE OF MARYLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION,

used to implement Marylands ve-pronged approach to comprehen-

sive education reform, which includes:

Adopting and implementing Common Core standards,

assessments and curriculum.

Building a statewide student data system.

Developing and supporting great teachers and principals.

Turning around low-achieving schools.

Increasing science, technology, engineering and mathematics

resources for elementary through high school students.

Maryland is implementing reforms at a rapid pace. Within one year of

the award, we began implementing tangible reforms in all areas of our

ve-pronged strategy and are on pace to complete these reforms within

the four year funding period. Updates to our education system include:

Expansion of the Breakthrough Center interface for services from the

Maryland State Department of Education.

Creation and development of STEMnet, a one-stop-shop for teachers

on resources and expertise in science, technology, engineering and

mathematics education.

Linking of data systems between Maryland State Department of Edu-

cation and Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Full adoption of Core Curriculum standards in English-language arts

and math on track for implementation in the 20132014 school year.

Assurance that only high-quality charter schools can exist and thrive

across the state through incentives for charter schools to be used as a

school turnaround strategy and a commitment to transparency and

consistency within the charter school approval process.

More recently, in December 2011 Maryland became one of nine states

to win the U.S. Department of Educations Race to the Top Early Learn-ing Challenge competitive grant program. We are now one of just six

states to receive federal funding through bothRace to the Top competi-

tions. Early Learning Challenge funds will be used to fulll three ex-

plicit objectives:


18/22


Increase the number and percentage of low-income and disadvantaged

children in each age group of infants, toddlers and preschoolers who

are enrolled in high-quality early learning programs.

Design and implement an integrated system of high-quality early learn-

ing programs and services.

Ensure that any use of assessments conforms with the recommenda-

tions of the National Research Councils reports on early childhood.

These funds will provide more Maryland children, particularly children

of color and low-income students, with a greater chance of entering the

K12 system prepared for academic success. Research has shown that

the return on investment in pre-K is the best way to begin the process

of closing educational achievement gaps, returning $7 to society for

every $1 spent. The Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant win

is just the rst step in a comprehensive plan to provide all Maryland

children with access to high-quality pre-K.

Bridge the Gaps:

MarylandCANs Policy Agenda

This State of Maryland Public Education report provides us with the

facts about our states public schools and those facts demand action.

There is a clear, urgent need in Maryland to reform our education

policies in order to close these achievement gaps and make sure

that every Maryland child has access to our storied Maryland public

schools, not just the lucky ones. So, MarylandCAN is proud to an-

nounce our 2012 inaugural policy agenda, called Bridge the Gaps, toenact three commonsense, essential policies to bridge our states

achievement gaps.

During the campaign, MarylandCAN sta will work to bridge the

gaps between public ocials and their constituents to make sure that

the voices in support of education reform are heard. We will bridge the

gaps between people of different political persuasions and walks of

31http://www2.ed.gov/programs/

racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/

index.html


19/22


life in Maryland who all believe that great schools change everything

and want to come together in support of commonsense policies.

Bridge 1: Jumpstart Charter School Innovation

Marylands public charter school law desperately needs a complete over-

haul. Maryland ranked 40 out of 41 by the National Alliance for Public

Charter Schoolsamong states with public charter school laws. Written

in 2003, the core tenets of Marylands law are at odds with the growing

body of research documenting charter school best practices and results.

States with the strongest charter school laws allow their public

charter schools the exibility to be innovative while still holding them

accountable for improving student achievement. A strong charter

school law provides careful and thoughtful oversight and allows for the

closure of low-performing schools while scaling up high-performing

schools with a track record of success.

Research shows that charter schools that have the ability to provide

more instructional time for students and more classroom observations

by principals can produce greater student performance gains, espe-

cially for both low-income and/or minority students in urban commu-

nities. Strong charter schools like these are the type of schools that

we need in Maryland to bridge the achievement gap. Unfortunately,

charter schools currently represent only approximately 3.5 percent of

the states public schools. The small number of charter schools we have

created struggle under a system that makes it dicult to innovate and

also impossible to grow to scale. The law must be changed.

Bridge 2: Fund Quality Pre-K for All

The research is clear: Access to high quality pre-K yields both short-

term and long-term gains for children. Not only do high-quality early

childhood programs help students achieve at higher levels in reading

and math,4 but they also help students, repeat grades far less often;

need less special education; graduate from high school at substantially

higher rates; and they are more likely to attend college.5 Children

who attend pre-K are also less likely to be incarcerated, will earn moremoney, and are less likely to depend upon welfare services. The savings

associated with increased school and career readiness result in a

shared 7 dollar return on investment to both the individual and society

for every one dollar spent on quality pre-K programs.

Improving the outcomes of Maryland students means providing

every Maryland four-year-old child with access to a high-quality, full-

34 Does Higher Quality Early

Child Care Promote Low-Income

Childrens Math and Reading

Achievement in Middle Childhood?

Dearing, Eric et al., Child

Development80, no. 5 (2009)

35 Comparative Benet-Cost

Analysis of the Abecedarian

Program and Its Policy Implications

Barnett, W. Steven and Masse,

Leonard N. Economics o Education

Review26 (2007)

36 Note: The High/Scope PerryPreschool Study focused on the

long-term benets of a pre-K

program had on low-income

African-American children in

Ypsilanti Michigan.

37 The High/Scope Perry

Preschool Program: Cost-Benet

Analysis Using Data from the

Age-40 Followup, Beleld, Clive R.

et al.,Journal o Human Resources

41, no. 1 (2006)

33 Mathematica Policy Research and

The Center for Reinventing Public

Education (2011)

32http://charterlaws.publiccharters

.org/charterlaws/state/MD


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day pre-K program. But access to high-quality early education pro-

grams should not be contingent upon the amount of money a childs

parent makes. Maryland parents should have a choice of high quality

full-day pre-K programs for their children.

Marylands recentRace to the Top Early Learning Challenge victory

means we have a smart plan and key federal investments to emerge

as a national leader on preschool. Now we need to make good on that

promise by ensuring all Maryland four-year-old children have access to

these life-changing programs.

Bridge 3: Champion Active Parent Participation

No parent should ever have to choose between providing for their

family and participating in their childs education.

Most people agree that active parent engagement is critical to en-

suring a great education for all kids. While we cannot legislate parental

involvement at home or in school, we can advocate for laws that reduce

the barriers to active parent participation in their childs educational

success. One critical rst step is legislation to allow parents to meet

with their childrens teachers, such as in parent-teacher conferences,

without penalty from employers.

Just as employers are required to allow employees to carry out their

civic duty and vote or serve on a juror, they should also be required to

allow parents to fulll their obligations to actively participate in their

childs education. Regardless of whether or not a parents job aords

them leave time or whether or not the parent has remaining leave time,they should have the right to attend bi-annual parent teacher confer-

ences without risking their livelihood.


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Principles for Reform

Getting state policy right will transform the way we educate Marylands

children. Great policy doesnt mean trying to write every best practice

into state law, but instead advancing three fundamental principles:

Greater Choices. By expanding options for families we inject innova-

tion, competition and a grassroots-level of accountability into the

school system. Giving families and educators choices among public

schools is a start. But we need to ensure that they are true choices.

Greater Accountability. Rigorous state standards, student assess-

ments and access to real-time student achievement data must drive

instruction and curriculum, ground teacher evaluations in student

results and be used as a tool to close chronically failing schools.

Greater Flexibility. Marylands educators need far greater exibility

in how they run their districts and their schools. Flexibility means

making it easier for schools to innovate and try approaches that will

lead to better outcomes for kids.


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About MarylandCAN

Marylands achievement gapthe persistent and signicant disparity

between the academic achievement of low-income and minority chil-

dren and their white, middle-class peersis the most urgent social and

economic problem facing our state. We have one of the countrys largest

achievement gaps between our haves and have-nots, and each and every

one of us is paying the price for our failing public schools. But Maryland,

and the entire nation, was built on the promise of universal education.

Public schools are the cornerstone of our democracy. Our future is inex-

tricably linked to the education of our childrenall of them. Maryland-

CAN is building a new movement of concerned citizens advocating to

fundamentally reform our public schools through smart public policies.

We will not rest until every Maryland child, regardless of race, ethnicity

or class, has access to a great public school.

www.marylandcan.org

Documents

State of Maryland Public Education 2012