The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board has approved updates to the statewide comprehensive education reform plan, on schedule with a law that calls for the massive plan to be revised each year by Aug. 1.

Some changes the board made Tuesday were discussed July 20, such as requiring local health and social service agencies to share with local school systems the names and contact information of families with children who could be eligible to enroll in free prekindergarten.

This and other revisions — which were recommended by staff of the state Department of Education and other state agencies, as well as by local school leaders, parents and other stakeholders — focus on most of the Blueprint’s priorities: expanding early childhood education, hiring and retaining high-quality and diverse teachers, preparing students for college and technical careers and providing additional resources for students in need.

The other priority is governance and accountability for the Blueprint board, also known as the AIB, that was established by lawmakers to oversee the education reform plan until 2032. The board decided that, together with the Department of Education, they will develop a framework to identify areas of technical assistance that need to be provided to school systems and what agencies should provide it.

“I just feel like this process has worked extremely well and that we’ve been very open and accommodated the input that has come from a variety of different quarters,” said Blueprint Board Vice Chair William “Brit” Kirwan, chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland.

Blueprint Board Chair Isiah “Ike” Leggett, who served three terms as Montgomery County’s executive, said the work isn’t over, with another meeting scheduled for Aug. 10.

“This is an important document, but it’s a document to some degree [that] will be subject to changes as we look at new approaches to education and new changes that need to be made,” he said. “We have put in an awful lot of work and we’re still not through. We’ve accomplished a great deal with all our supporting personnel and organizations that have worked with us.”

Last week, the Blueprint board approved all 24 school systems’ first submissions of local reform plans.

Most counties have already planned to increase salaries for teachers, prepare to expand prekindergarten opportunities for 3- and 4-year-old children and provide career counseling for middle and high school students.

The plans also detail how local officials will implement Blueprint strategies through the upcoming 2023-24 school year.

Some members of the AIB praised a couple of school systems for their work during an online meeting Thursday.

Kirwan said that Anne Arundel County public schools’ plan to expand the number teachers to achieve National Board Certification “really stands out.”

AIB Executive Director Rachel Hise said Anne Arundel has one of the highest number of teachers with that credential in Maryland.

Blueprint Boardmember Joseph Manko said Frederick County’s plan to create a teacher pipeline with higher education institutions should be replicated by other school systems.

“Teacher shortages are a challenge across the state, but it seems like in Frederick County there’s been a really deep connection with their local institutes of higher education,” he said.

Between May 20 and June 25, each local school system received two rounds of feedback from staff of the AIB and the state Department of Education.

Twenty school systems received unanimous approval last week for their local reform plans. Calvert, Charles and Garrett counties need to amend documentation on a Career and Counseling Memorandum of Understanding.

Queen Anne’s also received unanimous approval, on the condition that it convert $1,000 teacher stipends from the current and two previous fiscal years into the base salary for all teachers. The stipends were paid because school officials realized they couldn’t provide a 10% increase for teachers this fiscal year, as required by the Blueprint law.

Each school system’s plan will provide a roadmap for local school officials to receive assistance from staff of various agencies as they prepare documents that outline strategies through the 2026-27 school years and in order to submit them to the board by March.

Meanwhile, the AIB made available summaries of each approved school system’s plans along with feedback from AIB staff specifying “areas of strength and opportunity” and “areas for further growth and improvement.”

Here’s a snapshot of the feedback for each school district on the Mid-Shore

Caroline – Strength: “Caroline County provided comprehensive responses in its implementation plan overall, but particularly in describing its K-12 mathematics and literacy instructional plans. Caroline’s process for identifying and selecting both high-quality and culturally responsive instructional materials by utilizing the MABE [Maryland Association of Boards of Education] equity lens and evaluating potential materials against a culturally responsive scorecard is particularly noteworthy. AIB staff look forward to following Caroline’s progress in forming a workgroup to identify specific criteria for culturally responsive materials in the 2023-24 academic year.”

Improvement: “Caroline’s implementation of CTE [career and technical education] programs could benefit from a greater focus on opportunities that CTE pathways present for students to attain high-wage, high-skill jobs. This could also help to encourage more students to pursue industry credentials and enroll in high school apprenticeships.”

Dorchester – Strength: “DCPS is expanding its pipeline of teachers through partnerships with the Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM) program, Chesapeake College, and Salisbury University with a specific focus on efforts that will diversify the teaching force to better mirror the student body. Continue to seek solutions to fill hard to staff positions through these and additional collaborations.”

Improvement: “DCPS describes how staffing challenges are impacting implementation throughout the plan, including professional development and supporting students who are not yet meeting college and career [readiness] (CCR) expectations.  As strategies are developed to overcome these challenges, DCPS has the opportunity to consider creative approaches that will position the district as an early innovator in implementing the Blueprint, particularly with regards to meeting career ladder expectations. Such strategies could include teacher leaders returning to teaching for part of the day while creating, leading and monitoring professional development efforts; using high quality, school day tutoring funded through grants; and reallocating central office staffing to ensure teachers are in the classroom and students are receiving necessary support, etc.”

Kent – Strength: “Given Kent’s need to provide CCR [college and career readiness] support for very large numbers of students, the LEA [local education agency] has some strong structures in place now to build on including their Trojan Time period (to offer support/enrichment during the school day) and the summer programming that combines academic catchup with CTE exploration.  The LEA [local education agency] is thinking about the support it provides as needing to be engaging to students [and] Kent County is collaborating with neighboring Cecil County to organize community schools.”

Improvement: “Like most LEAs, Kent’s focus on the career ladder to date has been on supporting teachers working to achieve National Board Certification.  The district needs to think through how to structure new teacher roles and organize staffing to better serve students in their schools.  The LEA will benefit from technical assistance and guidance to develop a career ladder that goes beyond a focus on National Board Certification/salary incentives and leverages teacher leadership to improve teaching and learning.”

Queen Anne’s – Strength: “Queen Anne’s has created a continuous improvement process for their dual enrollment program. Data on how students perform prior to and in their dual enrollment courses will be used to help future students navigate whether to participate and which classes to take and help shape their partnerships with IHEs (institutions of higher education).”

Improvement: “QACPS has historically had trouble staffing math, world language, and secondary science teachers; recent shortages and decreasing enrollment in teacher preparation programs have made it hard for them to staff special education, elementary, and secondary positions in all levels. Queen Anne’s actively recruits at a number of events, but because of these shortages, the LEA [local education agency] needs to consider additional strategies to build strong teacher and teaching assistant pipelines, including through new recruitment and retention strategies (especially those targeting historically underrepresented populations).”

Talbot – Strength: “There is a comprehensive plan and commitment to monitoring key data and intervening early for students who are not on track as they enter high school, including an organizational audit to look for connections between policies and practices that either support or hinder student success [and] partnering with neighboring counties to collaborate on cross-county CTE [career and technical education] program offerings to broaden student options.”

Improvement: “As a smaller county, Talbot faces a number of challenges in Blueprint implementation including expanding early childhood education options (no private providers and no 3 [year] olds enrolled currently) and attracting the needed mix of teachers, support staff, and English Learner specialists. These were acknowledged and strategies were discussed but will need ongoing attention.”

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board approved all 24 school systems’ initial plans as part of the state’s goal to reform public education.

The documents approved Thursday are the first submission of Blueprint plans, summarizing the reform work that is complete, currently underway or that will be implemented through the 2023-24 school year.

All documents include details on the Blueprint’s focus on early childhood education, hiring and retaining high-quality and diverse teachers, preparing students for college and technical careers and providing additional resources for students in need.

Board Chair Isiah “Ike” Leggett thanked employees at the implementation board and the state Department of Education and members of the state Board of Education for Thursday’s vote, which he called a “significant achievement.”

“This is truly a milestone, but it’s only one major step in a long series of steps,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of work ahead. We put in an awful lot of long time and effort to get to this point.”

Before the seven-member board, also known as the AIB, voted during its online session, Leggett suggested that each school system plan be voted on separately.

The first 20 school system plans were approved unanimously.

Boardmember Jennifer Lynch recused herself from voting on Baltimore County’s Blueprint plan. She works as acting director of the county’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development.

Blueprint Boardmember Justin Robinson recused himself from voting on the Prince George’s County Public Schools plan because he works as a teacher in that school system.

The next three school systems — Calvert, Charles and Garrett — received conditional approval because officials in those jurisdictions must revise documentation on a Career Counseling Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Rachel Hise, executive director of the Blueprint board, said one example for the conditional approval is missing job descriptions.

The board voted unanimously to approve, conditionally, Blueprint plans from those three school districts.

Queen Anne’s County’s school district also received conditional approval, because school officials in that Eastern Shore county realized they couldn’t meet a requirement in the Blueprint law to provide a 10% salary increase for teachers in this fiscal year.

Instead, the school district provided $1,000 stipends for teachers in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and again this current fiscal year.

Part of the stipulation for approval, according to a motion from the AIB: convert and incorporate the stipend into the base salary for all teachers so “the salary increase will be properly reflected in pension calculations and any other calculations that are dependent on salary.”

With all 24 school systems’ Blueprint plans approved from this first submission, the implementation board can release Blueprint funds for this current fiscal year.

A summary on the approved plans is on the AIB website.

Next steps

School officials must submit a second set of education reform planning documents, by March of next year, that detail strategies to accomplish the Blueprint priorities through the 2026-27 school years.

The third and final submission must be turned in to the state in 2027 to cover plans between the 2027-28 school year and 2031-32.

Hise noted some common strengths from all 24 local school system plans, including support for prekindergarten expansion and enrollment, creating new partnerships with state agencies and other organizations and developing career counseling programs for middle and high school students.

Some improvements school systems could make, she said, include developing career ladders for staff, developing and implementing math and literacy plans and assessing how to support students who aren’t college and career ready by the 10th grade.

Hise said staff with the AIB, state Department of Education and other state agencies will provide technical assistance before a second submission of Blueprint plans are due in March.

Later in the meeting, the AIB reviewed recommendations to update the statewide Blueprint comprehensive plan that focused on college and career readiness, additional resources for students and governance and accountability.

Some of their recommendations include having the state Department of Education develop resources for local school districts to disseminate information on updated college and career readiness standards; providing “research-based” programs to recruit and train English as a Second Language and bilingual teachers; and having department officials provide Blueprint recommendations on local school system plans by June of every year.

Several people provided online suggestions for the Blueprint board in areas such as arts education, which they noted is mentioned in the Code of Maryland Regulations, also known as COMAR.

“The arts are a critical part of a world-class education, including but not limited to supporting children’s academic development, social and emotional wellbeing, and sense of belonging,” wrote Julia Di Bussolo, executive director of Arts Every Day in Baltimore. “The AIB’s inclusion of the arts, and all required subjects in COMAR, is an important step in ensuring that all students in Maryland receive a truly world-class education.”

The implementation board will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss and approve updates to the statewide comprehensive plan, which was first approved in December.

By William J. Ford

In October of 2021, the John & Janice Wyatt Foundation introduced Dorchester County’s version of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a collaborative effort by various entities nationwide to ensure more children from low-income families experience educational excellence. It has three metrics for success: grade-level reading proficiency by third grade, readiness for kindergarten, and a decrease in chronic absenteeism. As director of programs for the Wyatt Foundation, Dr. Jymil Thompson has led Dorchester’s campaign, and he was eager to tell The Spy about the progress of their efforts.

With an eye toward tackling the campaign’s second metric, Thompson and the Wyatts looked seriously at implementing PreK-3, which posits that a child with two years of quality pre-kindergarten will be prepared for kindergarten. Then they collaborated with Dorchester County Public Schools on a pilot program at Sandy Hill Elementary School. According to Thompson, DCPS has been very cooperative with the PreK-3 program, though the foundation had to get the school system to trust that it would do what was promised. Eventually, DCPS realized PreK-3 wasn’t just a fad that would fade away.

“I think building that trust and fostering a good relationship was what was needed,” said Thompson, a member of the Talbot County Board of Education. “And I think, once we built that and we showed that we’re truly invested in the community by doing the PreK-3 pilot program, by doing the various other things that we do in the community, that bought us some trust.”

The Wyatt Foundation’s initial hope was that the first PreK-3 pilot would lead to others in the school system, and DCPS did just that once they had seen the value in the program. A second pilot was initiated at Hurlock Elementary, and two more were planned—one at Maple Elementary and the other back at Sandy Hill.

“This upcoming school year will be the first opportunity for those kids that started our PreK-3 pilot program in 2021 to take the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment,” said Thompson. “And then we should be able to see how effective two years of PreK is for those particular students.”

Regarding the third metric of the campaign, the results so far have not been as encouraging. The level of absenteeism this past school year did go down a couple of percentage points, but there is still a long way to go with chronic absenteeism. Various schools have had pockets of success, but others require new ways to help improve attendance. Thompson has been working with school system leaders to think of fresh incentives, which won’t have the same level of impact with all students.

“You have programs that will increase the attendance as a whole,” said Thompson, “but then you have other students who are chronically absent that require something a little bit more individualized. Giving them incentives isn’t going to work. They need something else more systematic and strategic just for that particular student.”

The attendance rate for DCPS stood this year at 85%. 90-95% would be preferable, but the school system wants to keep the base stable and not let it decrease while shooting for that higher aspiration. Unfortunately, the results are not broken down by the type of absence: an excused absence is still counted as an absence. And DCPS and the Wyatt Foundation need partners in the community to help figure out why those with continual unexcused absences are out so much. According to Thompson, it could be mental health, bullying, or the home environment. Once the reasons are established, plans can be developed to remediate or eliminate the problems keeping the kids out of school.

At the same time, Thompson has had much more tangible success with another initiative. Ready for K is a parent-engagement tool that sends text messages to area families, offering ideas for helping kids with academics and dealing with emotional issues.

“That’s actually been pretty good,” said Thompson, who sends the messages to 1,861 families, up from the early number of 1,400. “It’s been good because we extended that to the private daycare centers.”

Additionally, he and the Wyatt Foundation are no longer struggling so much with getting the word out about their program.

“I think that we have made tremendous progress as it relates to people or the community being aware of the foundation,” Thompson explained. “We’ve been able to bring in more partners, we’ve been able to do more marketing. We have a billboard on 50 [by McDonald’s], and we’ve been able to engage more businesses.”

He presented at the Hurlock Town Council and at the Lower Eastern Shore Mayors Association meeting. He spoke with the Cambridge City Council. He and the foundation have worked with some of their partners—such as the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, YMCA, Empowerment Center, and Dorchester County Public Library—on a summer reading challenge under the collective banner “All Together Now.” They even ordered T-shirts bearing that slogan.

“We’ve still got work to do, but it’s definitely moved farther along,” said Thompson.

Another collaboration important to the Wyatt Foundation is that between DCPS and the community, which Thompson and his colleagues facilitate. The campaign sponsors hold four meetings per month, covering school readiness, out-of-school time, attendance, and the activities of the steering committee. During those meetings, representatives of the various partner organizations discuss everything that’s going on in the community.

And, no doubt, they talk about their goals for the campaign. Thompson’s primary goal for the next school year is finalizing an initiative in which the University of Maryland will develop curriculum for PK-3. They’re also talking about doing teacher coaching and long-term assessment to see how effective the program can be for the private sector (kids who don’t start out in DCPS). The Wyatt Foundation will be helping to fund and implement these endeavors over a period of several years.

Thompson also wants to work on improving the cohesiveness of DCPS’s curriculum and the activities of out-of-school-time organizations. The idea would be to have the reading strategies of the providers be at least thematically similar so that it will be easier to identify the children’s educational deficiencies.

“That’s where I think the alignment is crucial,” said Thompson, “because you have two different entities that see the same group of kids, but their messaging may not be the same. You don’t want the message to be opposite.”

So, the Wyatt Foundation has made significant progress with its Campaign for Grade-Level Reading this year. But there is still much work to be done, and Dr. Jymil Thompson is untiringly passionate about it.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury submitted a letter of intent to seek another term, the state Board of Education confirmed.

Saturday marked the deadline for Choudhury to inform the board whether he wanted to remain as the public schools leader.

Choudhury, who’s been superintendent since July 2021 after replacing Karen Salmon, has publicly stated he would like to continue his work on major education initiatives such as the multi-billion-dollar Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

During a discussion on school performance at Tuesday’s board meeting, Choudhury had a succinct and future message for employees. Choudhury, whose contract expires in June 2024, said certain employees haven’t visited a school in Baltimore that’s about five minutes away from the state Department of Education building.

“That’s going to change,” he said. “We should be hanging out in the school and helping [students and staff] and supporting them.”

According to board governance updated in April, the board will consider Choudhury’s contract in executive session at its regularly scheduled July meeting on July 25. Afterward, the board will notify the superintendent of its decision in writing within one week “to the extent possible.”

Five new board members will join the board this month and decide whether to award Choudhury a new contract with a four-year term. He’s serving a current, three-year term because the state board approved a contract extension for Salmon as she led the state’s public schools response during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the board approves a contract for Choudhury, he could serve the longest tenure as superintendent since former superintendent Nancy Grasmick, who served for 20 years until she retired in June 2011.

But Choudhury has faced some criticism for his leadership style and lack of collaboration with some lawmakers and advocates.

Miscommunication between the state Department of Education and the Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which the legislature approved to oversee the education reform plan, became public when department officials needed more time to offer recommendations on the 24 local school system Blueprint plans.

Some local officials said it’s created duplicate work and a “two-step process” for both agencies to receive the same documents. The Blueprint board could’ve approved plans in May, but is now scheduled to start that process July 20.

“As we move into the next round of submissions, we respectfully request that the department and AIB work hand-in-hand in the plan review process,” Derek Simmons, superintendent of Caroline County public schools, said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It is imperative to iron out perceived areas of overlap that leaves local school systems feeling stuck in the middle.”

Meanwhile, Choudhury does have support from state board president Clarence Crawford, who said in an interview Thursday the superintendent led an effort to cut the department’s vacancy rate by more than half. The department noted vacancies are down to 96, compared to an all-time high of 258 last year.

“Has the superintendent been perfect in everything he has done? Absolutely not, but I think he is learning. We are all learning,” Crawford said. “We are making good progress and I think we will be in good shape.”

Lori Morrow, who served her last day Friday as the parent representative on the state Board of Education, said Choudhury presents a unique perspective on analyzing data and is committed to trying to improve student achievement for English language learners and special education students, among others.

He came to Maryland after working as associate superintendent of strategy, talent and innovation at the San Antonio Independent School District in Texas, where he became nationally known for his efforts on economic integration of schools.

“We hired him as somebody who was going to transform education [and] was coming outside of Maryland. I still support that,” Morrow said. “I still think he’s the right person at this time to make the changes that we need.”

By William J. Ford

Rene Averitt-Sanzone, executive director with The Parents’ Place of Maryland, is one of many early childhood advocates who support Maryland’s plans to dramatically expand prekindergarten programs during a 10-year education reform effort.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future sets early childhood opportunities as its first pillar, or priority. That includes universal access to prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-old children.

As prekindergarten opportunities expand, school systems must also ensure early childhood curricula are more inclusive for children with disabilities, Averitt-Sanzone said.

Her goal for success: “Really finding a way to make a place for our little ones with disabilities in the pre-k classrooms,” she said. “We can’t do any of that stuff if we are not supporting the teachers and child care providers. We operate from a place of collaboration and partnership.”

Other planned reforms in early childhood education include working with families to make them aware of expanded access. And teaching assistants will be required to earn an associate’s degree or child development associate credential by the 2027-28 school year.

The expanded pre-K structure is proposed as a mixed-delivery system, where public schools and private child care providers both serve young children.

Bill Hudson, executive director for Family Child Care Alliance of Maryland, said there remain challenges. For example, if more children ages 3 and 4 attend prekindergarten in a public school, that could decrease enrollment at child care centers and family child care providers.

The state has previously relied heavily on a network of private child care providers. Maryland has about 4,000 family child care providers that can enroll up to eight children, Hudson said. In comparison, neighboring Pennsylvania had about 1,300 last year and there were around 1,400 in Virginia.

“The area of Maryland is about a quarter of Pennsylvania. Lots of families depend on family child care [in Maryland],” he said. “I’m a fan of the Blueprint in what it’s trying to do to make high quality pre-k done well in family child care…but [in order] to get to where we are to where we collectively want to be, there’s a lot of work to do.”

The state’s Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board is tasked with reviewing the education reform plans from all 24 local school systems across the state. School officials submitted their first plans in March, which outlined work that began last school year and in preparation for the 2023-24 school year.

The board could start approving local reform plans next month.

The initial plans include answers to more than two dozen questions and statements about how local school systems would improve learning for the younger children, including the operational changes that will be necessary at local school buildings.

To give a flavor of the scope of work that school systems are undertaking to facilitate such a broad expansion of early childhood education, we’ve compiled all or part of the responses of each school district to one question in the planning report:

“What operational changes is the school system planning to make to support the expansion of Pre-K? Consider the impact of the expansion related to operating systems, schedules, talent pipelines, physical space and facilities, resource allocation, etc. How will the school system include the Pre-K expansion in its short and long-term planning?”

Allegany – “Operationalizing the expansion of Pre-K will remain a focus in Allegany County. In FY23, the district supported expansion of full-day Pre-K into middle and elementary schools by dedicating space, altering staff schedules, modifying transportation routes, and adding administrative assignments. A Pre-K center, namely the Westmar Early Learning Center (WELC), in the western region of Allegany County at Westmar Middle School, was created. That site was chosen due to underutilization of space in the school building. Pre-K staff including teachers and instructional assistants were reassigned to the WELC. Additionally, a full-time Assistant Principal was assigned to the building to support the new program. Although implementing new full-day Pre-K programs in several of the district’s elementary schools may require long-term construction plans for new classrooms, expansion into schools with existing space will take priority. In the future as needed, ACPS will collaborate with community agencies to utilize any available, appropriate space to establish Pre-K sites. Additionally, modifying and increasing transportation resources to accommodate access to regionally placed programs within the county will be considered.”

Anne Arundel – “AACPS has converted 4-year-old Pre-Kindergarten programs to full-day in 61 schools. This year we launched 3-year-old Pre-Kindergarten in eight schools. The multi-year approach has allowed AACPS to meet the Blueprint requirements of one certified teacher and one qualified Teacher assistant/Paraprofessional in each classroom. As we continue to expand Pre-Kindergarten opportunities to eligible families, we will adjust operational needs as necessary.”

“Planning for Pre-Kindergarten Spaces: AACPS has surveyed AACPS buildings to identify educationally sufficient space for potential Pre-Kindergarten classroom expansion and we are exploring non-traditional options such as space in middle and high schools and commercial real estate locations for possible expansion. The pre-Kindergarten expansion was also a consideration in our most recent redistricting plan. Once a redistricting plan is approved, we will better project future location sites. Funding for future Pre-Kindergarten expansion will require local and state funding sources. A Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten addition fund currently exists for expanding Pre-Kindergarten at our school facilities, but this fund will most likely not meet our future demand needs. We must consider building Pre-Kindergarten centers, leasing, and retrofitting leased facilities, and expanding our capacity in other ways to meet all the Blueprint requirements related to space and expansion of Pre-Kindergarten.”

Baltimore City – “Full-day pre-k is currently offered in the large majority of City Schools’ elementary and elementary/middle schools. To determine the extent of operational changes necessitated by expanded pre-k eligibility, City Schools, in partnership with the ECAC, will work with the Baltimore City Health Department during SY23-24 to identify the likely population of 3- and 4-year-olds in individual school zones by year for the next ten years through consideration of factors such as census, birth rate, and other data, as well as the existence of other pre-k providers and care settings in individual neighborhoods. (As noted in question 1, some of this research already exists.) This analysis will provide data to fold into City Schools’ annual process of making enrollment projections, used to inform facilities, budget, staffing, and other decision-making.

“Budgeting and resource allocation: City Schools uses a per-pupil funding formula, with pre-k allocations flowing to schools based on their pre-k enrollments, largely in the form of “locked” positions for pre-k staff. This process is not anticipated to change. However, program costs will continue to exceed dedicated funding, at least in the initial years of Blueprint Act implementation.”

Baltimore County – “BCPS is making numerous operational system changes to support successful prekindergarten expansion including merging early childhood general and special education sessions to eliminate parallel instructional models and best utilize space and human resources to serve children. BCPS includes special education staffing requests in prekindergarten expansion budget request. Appropriate Board policies and rules will be reviewed to ensure that the needs of three- and four-year old students are addressed. Transportation routes, equipment and staffing will be modified to address full-day programs. New prekindergarten curriculum is being piloted in school year 2022–23. Guidelines for scheduling, particularly for special areas (arts/physical education/music/etc.) will be shared with school-based leaders and teachers to ensure consistency across full-day programs. BCPS will support current staff members in their efforts to obtain the Child Development Associate (CDA) or Associate degree, allowing those individuals to apply for paraeducators positions. New partnerships and cohorts are being formed with local colleges and universities to support “grow our own” efforts to increase the number of qualified staff members.”

Calvert – “Short Term Operational Changes:

• Move all 4-year-old programs to full day and ensure each of the 12 elementary schools houses at least one full day classroom. These classrooms will be funded by a combination of grant funding and local funding. (Linked artifact: CCPS Prekindergarten Programming Sites
• Increase staffing for the 4-year-old program by hiring 12 additional IAs and 1.5 prekindergarten teachers.
• Work with transportation to the extent possible to keep students in their home zoned school.
• Development of procedures and guidelines to manage student enrollment for public and private providers.
• Determine changes needed for staffing, staff recruitment, and resource allocations.

Long Term Operational Changes:

• Determine the programming shifts appropriate for moving from self-contained regional special education programs to inclusive prekindergarten settings.
• Create a study committee to plan for the implementation of a 3-year-old program.
• Study committee’s plan for the implementation of a 3-year-old program will include logistics of location, space, curriculum, time allocations, staffing, and transportation.
• Work with the department of human resources to determine a recruitment plan specifically for early childhood educators and instructional assistants.”

Caroline – “When considering the expansion of PreK, CCPS is faced with the challenge of finding space for the classrooms, specifically PreK-3. We have been fortunate to find space in the elementary schools or PreK-4 classrooms even with the fluctuation of numbers over the last few years. However, elementary schools are near capacity to add a PreK-3 classroom. When looking for available space in the county, considerations regarding distance from the school, utilities, and construction costs to make classrooms would need to be addressed. CCPS could also look for a space that could house multiple classrooms to form an early childhood center within the county. However, each of these options have costs associated with them. Staffing is also a challenge. Currently, in our PreK program, each classroom has a teacher, teaching assistant, and part-time tutor. Throughout this school year, we have had vacancies for both teaching assistants and tutor positions. In expanding PreK-3, we would need to address the need for additional staff. Currently, the PreK-3 teachers are certified special education teachers since the program is an inclusive special education program.”

Carroll – “Additional staffing will need to be hired to include more full-time equivalent teachers (FTE) in special areas and additional hourly support in prekindergarten classrooms and non-academic settings to ensure the 10:1 student/teacher ratio is maintained across all settings during the school day. CCPS continues to recruit certified early childhood teachers each year. Hiring certified Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers has not been an issue in the past. To ensure all instructional assistants earn their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential to continue in their positions, a meeting was held with all current instructional assistants to share and provide an opportunity that would allow each instructional assistant to earn the CDA certificate through grant funds. In addition to the Associate of Arts and CDA certificate programs established at Carroll Community College, a local private college, McDaniel College, is also starting an early childhood teaching program to help with the increased demands for employment opportunities in this field.”

Cecil – “As CCPS operationalizes the expansion of Pre-K, we have considered both short- and long-term impacts. In the short term, we are continuing to enhance structures for family access to Pre-K and information about the program. CCPS is evaluating spaces that could be used for Pre-K classrooms across the system. In addition, central office leadership is collaborating with building level leaders to discuss expansion plans. As a system, CCPS is examining the overall process for enrolling and managing Pre-K students. The online enrollment system provides families with immediate access to online registration for Pre-K programs. CCPS has also considered the impact that additional Pre-K sections will have on school master schedules. Specifically, providing teachers with negotiated planning time will require additional sections of special areas classes. The school system is currently reworking master schedules with these considerations in mind. As a district, we are excited to work with the Cecil School of Technology’s Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM) program to begin enrolling students in the Child Development Associate (CDA) program as soon as possible.”

Charles – “Physical Space and Facilities: Starting in 2023-2024, CCPS will open a pre-K facility on the campus of the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) in La Plata, located near the center of the county. The facility will have a capacity of around 100 students. CCPS will use the facility to address capacity issues at surrounding schools. For 2024-2025, CCPS will convert the Transition School in Waldorf to a pre-K facility. The Transition School has been used as a swing space over the last six years while several schools have undergone major renovations. The Transition School has a capacity of around 400 students, which will provide relief to surrounding schools with capacity issues as it is in a highly populated portion of the county. This will also provide space for CCPS to begin a 3-year-old program. This early learning center will have the same offerings as the early learning center at CSM. CCPS submitted a request for funding to place relocatable classrooms at schools with capacity issues at a projected cost of $17.8 million. The relocatable classrooms would be used for an older grade level classroom in order to provide classroom space inside the building to expand pre-K.”

Dorchester – “As PK3 programs are expanded in DCPS, as well as Tier 2 students in PK4, DCPS will rely on various talent pipelines to recruit certified early childhood teachers. These pipelines include:

• Chesapeake College offers an Associate of Arts in Teaching degree that will transfer to a university, and Child Development Associate (CDA) courses for teaching assistants.
• DCPS partners with Salisbury University to place teaching interns in designated professional development schools in DCPS.
• Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM) program offered at our career and technology center for juniors and seniors in high school that are interested in pursuing a career in teaching.
• Various job fairs to recruit teacher applicants.
• University of Phoenix offers an online program that leads to Maryland certification in early childhood education, allowing DCPS staff to continue working while pursuing their teaching degree.
• DCPS has direct billing agreements with multiple higher education institutions that offer both in-person and online programs.
• Maryland LEADS grant provides funding for DCPS TAM students to earn a bachelor’s degree, teaching assistant funding to earn teacher certification, and funds for teaching assistants to earn their CDA.
• R4K grant provides funding for teaching assistants to earn their CDA credentials.”

Frederick – “We have added Innovative Pre-K Programs at two of our high schools; both classrooms are successfully implementing full day Pre-K with classes of 20 students each. The Pre-K classroom is staffed by a certified ECE teacher and a teaching assistant. High school students completing Child Development Associate (CDA) coursework are actively engaged in the Pre-K classrooms by doing observations and running small group instruction. This approach not only created classroom space for Pre-K, but also facilitated classroom hours for CDA students. This program will be expanded to two additional high schools in 2023-24, with the expectation that it will be in all ten comprehensive high schools in future years. We would like to build on our high school CDA program noted above to hire graduating students as teaching assistants. In the long term, we hope to build a pipeline for those teaching assistants to pursue their ECE degrees via a Grow Your Own program similar to one we have developed for special educators with Maryland Leads grant funds. The challenge, however, is finding additional resources to support the creation of this pipeline.”

Garrett – “GCPS currently offers universal full day pre-K4 programming to students in Garrett County. In order to expand pre-K opportunities, GCPS implemented two Pre-K3 classrooms this year for the first time. These classrooms service eligible students for full days for five days a week. They provide high-quality experiences for students and their families that will close learning gaps. These students receive transportation on the regular GCPS buses. Schools adjusted their schedules to ensure students receive resource classes with adjusted times. GCPS adopted a new curriculum to help support instruction for all of our Pre-K classrooms including the new Pre-K3 classrooms. GCPS is planning to expand with two additional Pre-K3 classrooms next year. We will be applying for funding for this in the Expansion Grant for 2023-2024. A new Pre-K3 classroom will be added to Grantsville Elementary and another will be added to Broad Ford Elementary. Grantsville Elementary has been recently renovated and has room for an additional classroom. Route 40 Elementary is in close proximity to Grantsville Elementary and can also send their students who meet the criteria.”

Harford – “Long Term Facility Plan: The long-term plan requires increasing elementary school capacity. The Harford Academy at Campus Hills project is planned to replace the current school for students with significant disabilities requiring separate placement per their IEP with a new combination school to include an elementary school. The new elementary school capacity will include pre-k classes including regional specialized preschool programs and free up capacity within the development envelope to accommodate additional pre-k classrooms. Additionally, HCPS has requested local funding to complete a scope study to evaluate addition/modernization potential at schools with the highest systemic needs. This CIP will enable HCPS to remain fiscally responsible in addressing school facility systemic needs while addressing capacity needs. However, with limited capital funding, adding permanent capacity to schools for program expansion will further defer necessary systemic and replacement projects.

Below is a list of additional operational impacts and changes needed to support the expansion of pre-k.

• Ensure funding is available for an Early Childhood Teacher Specialist to support HCPS pre-k and community programs.
• Ensure funding is available for additional staffing (teachers and assistants).
• Ensure funding is available for additional special area teachers to support full day pre-k students.”

Howard – “HCPSS is planning incremental increases to the number of available slots for eligible students. Initial efforts have focused on the conversion of the existing half-day programs for 4-year-olds to full-day programs for eligible 4-year-olds. Planning has also included additional slots for the expansion of the programs to address the increased service range. The initial focus of expansion has been on the full utilization of all available existing HCPSS spaces to increase the number of available Pre-K slots. Strategies include full or maximized utilization of traditional classroom spaces and conversion of spaces used for other purposes (e.g., offices, conference rooms, third-party occupied rooms) through construction projects. Additional Pre-K classrooms and related spaces are strategically planned in future capital projects to maximize existing projects, schools, and to create new regional centers. HCPSS stakeholders regularly meet to discuss plans for future space utilization, identify the associated benefits and challenges, and provide potential solutions for limited capacity.”

Kent – “Because KCPS currently provides publicly funded full-day pre-K to all 4-year-olds, no operational changes will be required for Fiscal Year 2024. However, in order to meet the Blueprint’s requirement for Tier 1 3-year-old pre-K by 2032, KCPS will need to secure additional resources such as iPads, curriculum, and professional development; additional staff including three new full-time teachers, three new instructional assistants, one new bus driver, and an assistant for the bus; facility upgrades including age-appropriate furniture, cubbies, sinks, toilets, and sensory rooms; and a new bus. This will require a significant investment. In FY23, KCPS has pursued both the MD Rebuilds Grant and a Full-Service Community Schools grant unsuccessfully and will continue to search for grant opportunities to operationalize the expansion of pre-K as soon as possible.”

​​Montgomery – “The Early Childhood Unit will work with the Division of Capital Planning and Real Estate to identify buildings that have space in schools throughout the county. Structural changes including the conversion of additional part day Pre-K classes to full day classes. Each class has a capacity of 20 children. When a school has part-day Pre-K classes, the configuration consists of an AM session of 20 students and a PM session of 20 students using the same classroom. As MCPS converts part-day Pre-K classes, we will consider building capacity. In some cases, this will mean taking the AM and PM sessions and finding space within the same building. In other cases, it may be necessary to find space in a different location. Based on enrollment data, the Early Childhood Unit is considering the conversion of part-day seats to full-day in areas of the county with high need. It should also be noted that these full-day classes will be inclusive of students with disabilities. This includes the creation of full-day, inclusive classes in newly renovated elementary school buildings that did not have Pre-K classes prior to their renovation. All newly built and renovated elementary buildings include space for one Pre-K classroom.”

Prince George’s – “PreK in the district has expanded to all available spaces. As schools move their 6th grade students to middle school buildings, PGCPS is working with CIP to upgrade the classrooms to house more prekindergarten students with limited or no access to quality child care, regardless of income (i.e., adding bathrooms to classrooms and age-appropriate playground structures). PGCPS has developed a proposal for expansion going forward. Any construction of new buildings at the elementary or PreK-8 level will also include multiple PreK classes. The number of PreK classes will be adjusted based on need within the community as much as the building construction guidelines will allow.”

Queen Anne’s – “QACPS is in the first year of a three-year plan to bring full-day pre-k to all of our elementary schools. Operationally, we are making improvements to our online enrollment system so that families can enroll and upload documents into our system. Families with limited or no internet access will still be able to enroll at their respective school. As we expand pre-k we do not know exactly what the demand will be, and what proportion of income tiers our families will fall in. We are also going to open enrollment earlier, starting in March. Enrollment process improvements will allow us to collect data earlier to be able to make pre-k enrollment decisions and projections more accurately moving forward. Fortunately, our 3-year plan for pre-k expansion will not require additional space beyond what we currently have and will not require many additional resources. We have had declining enrollment and at this time we do not anticipate that we will require additional staff for pre-k. We believe we will be able to shift teachers within schools to cover expansion during this initial three-year rollout.”

St. Mary’s – “As Pre-Kindergarten continues to expand, there are space concerns with available classrooms. As additional classes are brought on, a careful review of existing space, relocatable classrooms, and other options are being considered. Further, if new schools are built, additional space would become available for Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. Childcare providers offering three-year-olds placement in a Pre-Kindergarten program would allow SMCPS to find adequate space for four-year-olds. During the past year with the implementation of full day Pre-Kindergarten for all four-year-olds, a master schedule was developed that ensured all required components were addressed for students. National, state, and local early childhood staffing shortages present a challenge. SMCPS continuously recruits new talent, assists paraeducators in pursuing teaching credentials, and the Teacher Academy of Maryland in SMCPS is including Pre-Kindergarten for potential teachers who may wish to consider early childhood.”

Somerset – “Long term planning: Possible additional Pre-K 3 spots will be added in the future through partnerships with local providers. UMES Child Development Center has recently expressed some interest in pursuing Pre-K programming in the future. Though they would not be ready to do this in the upcoming school year, they have expressed interest in opening up one or two classrooms in the coming years and would have the added capacity of 20 additional Pre-K 3 slots. Continue reaching out to local childcare providers and assisting providers who wish to continue working towards EXCELS level 4 and/or wish to become an eligible private provider. Continue to provide joint professional development opportunities. Since SCPS has completed the accreditation process, SCPS will use its expertise to assist private providers with this process. Design a common pre-k information and application platform for SCPS and partner providers.”

Talbot – “TCPS is currently performing a comprehensive review of current infrastructure to determine which facilities can support additional Pre-K classrooms and outdoor areas with shaded options that meet the accreditation requirements. Additionally, TCPS is reviewing the number of non-certified staff who work with Pre-K students and offering supportive strategies for these individuals to earn certification, which we have extended to candidates in our local Grow Your Own program and Teacher Academy. TCPS continues to allocate adequate funding for maintaining essential instructional materials to ensure Pre-K programs can deliver high-quality instruction to all students. While we have expanded to include all 4-year-olds, we will continue gathering information from registration forms and collaborating with private providers, including those providers who serve 0–2-year-olds, to determine the capacity for supporting full-day Tier I 3-year-olds in the future.”

Washington – “During the past 5 years, WCPS has continued expanded Pre-K programs to provide universal Pre-K for all 4-year-olds. WCPS provides a certified teacher in every Pre-K classroom. Our paraprofessionals who do not have an AA degree have the opportunity to earn their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential through WCPS. WCPS Pre-K expansion has resulted in provision of at least one Pre-K program in every elementary school, and two Pre-K programs located in two different high schools. WCPS is currently able to meet the needs of all 4-year-old students. WCPS Pre-K programs located at the high schools that partner with the Teacher Academy of Maryland Programs and allow high school students to have hands-on learning experiences. These experiences include high school students completing observations, writing lesson plans, and providing instruction in small groups and in one-on-one settings. The experiences also provide the opportunity for students to reflect on data. As WCPS plans for the building of new elementary schools, the plans will include 3-and 4-year-old Pre-K slots for at least 75% of the kindergarten enrollment numbers.”

Wicomico – “Wicomico County Public Schools has been a recipient of the PreK Expansion Grant for the past 5 years. Currently, our 11 elementary schools house 7 full-day Prekindergarten three-year-old classrooms and 37 full-day Prekindergarten four-year-old classrooms. The county is challenged with increasing the number of classrooms due to physical space limitations within buildings. The proposed plan is to transition 5 of the Prekindergarten three- year-old classrooms to Prekindergarten four-year-old classrooms. The PreK Expansion Grant was awarded to 4 of our partnering childcare sites which have enrolled 64 children. WCPS will continue to support these sites and encourage additional childcare sites within our community to apply for PreK Expansion Grant funding.”

• FY 24 2 Prekindergarten three-year-old classrooms with a total of 30 students.
• FY 24 4 Prekindergarten four-year-old classrooms with a total of 840 students.
• FY 24 Private Providers propose 3 Prekindergarten three-year-old classrooms with a total of 54 students.
• FY 24 Private Providers propose 3 Prekindergarten four-year-old classrooms with a total of 60 students.
• FY 24 One newly interested private provider proposes 2 Prekindergarten three-year-old classrooms with a total of 28 students.
• FY24 Head Start commits to enrolling three-year-olds in their Early Head Start program.

Worcester – WCPS will make the following operational changes to support the expansion of PreK both in the short term (ST) and long term (LT):

• Operating Systems – securing star seats/booster seat/harnesses; (ST), reviewing bus routes to ensure that bus transportation is available; (LT), and the addition of bus aids (LT), as needed.
• Schedules – when we apply for the expansion gran this year, we will need to ensure that gym and music (specials) are offered to our students and that teachers have opportunities for planning and that there is the appropriate number of adults for supervision during recess (ST/LT).
• Talent Pipelines – recruitment of early childhood teachers, paras with either an AA or CDA, and special educators, support existing PreK teaching assistants with their CDA/AA degree (ST/LT), creating partnerships with local universities and community colleges, local pipelines (grow your own); (ST/LT), increase Professional Development schools in partnership with Salisbury University (LT).
• Physical Space /Facilities – repurposing classroom space (LT).
• Resource Allocation – Continue to apply for PreK expansion grant, 2024/utilize blueprint funds in the future to purchase: furniture, supplies and materials of instruction, salaries and fixed charges, curriculum, and technology (ST).
• Food Service- ensure that the food service has the appropriate number of meals allocated (ST/LT).

Click through to read earlier roundups of Blueprint reform efforts on college and career readiness and efforts to hire high-quality and diverse educators.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the year by which early childhood educators must meet new training requirements.

By William J. Ford

Since Building African American Minds (BAAM) opened its doors to the Easton community, the organization’s founders, Derek and Dina Daly, and its board directors have taken on several significant projects that would test any new organization. From establishing a campus on Jowite Street, adding classroom space, and, more recently, completely funding the gymnasium, BAAM has proven its tenacity in getting things done.

The latest case is BAAM’s project to build a state-of-the-art academic center to fulfill organizations tion’s long-term vision of providing learning opportunities to the entire community. From pre-k to seniors, the idea for the new building is to offer life-altering education programs for all ages.

The Spy asked Dina, BAAM”s executive director, and its board president, Bill Ryan, to chat about the almost $10 million facility and the powerful arguments of why this is so important to Easton in the decades ahead.

This video is approximately fiver minutes in length. For more information about BAAM or make a donation to the project please go here.