State BOE has primary jurisdiction over Howard County Superintendent – Dispute with the Local Board.

Dr. Renee Foose, superintendent of Howard County Public School System (File photo)

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Maryland state school board selects education scholar as vice president

Chester E. Finn Jr. was named vice president of the Maryland State Board of Education. (Maryland State Department of Education)

The Maryland State Board of Education tapped a longtime education scholar who lives in Chevy Chase as its new vice president.

Chester E. Finn Jr., president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, stepped into the board leadership role Monday after the October resignation of Vice President S. James Gates Jr.

Gates, a highly recognized physicist and professor at the University of Maryland in College Park, left the board after the recent mandate by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) that schools in Maryland open for classes after the Labor Day holiday and end by June 15.

Hogan said the move was good for the economy and families, but many school district officials objected, saying it usurped local control and could affect student learning. As the state board took steps to allow systems to seek waivers, Hogan revised his mandate in a way that made it nearly impossible for most districts to qualify.

 “I do not now confidently work in an environment I perceive as supportive of education nor respects the independence of the board,” Gates said in a three-page resignation letter.

Finn, who was elected vice president at a state board meeting Monday, has been part of the 12-member board since 2015, when he was appointed by Hogan.

 As the Hogan mandate stirred debate in the fall, Finn did not support the idea. He said school calendars should be a matter of local control and wrote in a blog post that limiting the school year, with a mandate about start and end dates, was “educationally unsound.”

“Maryland has way too many disadvantaged kids who are not achieving enough in school, and for those kids, an extended school year is an educational option that should certainly be available,” he said in an interview.

Finn later described Gates’s departure as a loss and said that although the board wanted to emphasize its independence, he also believed it would move forward and work with Hogan on education issues in Maryland.

Finn held the Fordham Institute’s top post from 1997 to 2014. He was a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University from 1981 to 2002. From 1985 to 1988, he was assistant secretary for research and improvement at the U.S. Education Department.

 The author or co-author of more than 20 books, he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard University.

via Washington post

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Maryland board considers two-tier high school diploma system

Since most Maryland students didn’t pass a tough new test that eventually will be required for graduation, should the state lower the bar?

The state school board began considering the question Tuesday as members discussed options, including setting a lower passing grade or offering a second-tier diploma for students who finish required high school courses but can’t pass the PARCC test now used in a dozen states.

The Maryland board has until May to decide what standard to set for students entering ninth grade next fall.

High schools in the state gave the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, tied to the Common Core curriculum, for the first time last spring. A much smaller percentage of students passed than did the previous high school exam, known as the High School Assessment. Thousands failed.

 At its monthly meeting, the board engaged in a spirited debate over what to do about that.

Board member Chester Finn reacted swiftly to a suggestion that the state accept a lower standard. “I thought the move to PARCC was to increase standards,” he said. “We are headed toward telling Maryland students they will get a Maryland diploma and they are not ready.” He said a low standard would mislead the public.

Maryland students score better on tests taken on paper

He suggested the board consider adopting a two-diploma system, one for students who passed PARCC and are considered ready for college and a second diploma, equivalent to what is given today, for students who have fulfilled the course requirements and achieve minimum passing grades on state tests.

But school board member James H. DeGraffenreidt said he is opposed to such a dual diploma system because he believes it would institutionalize the achievement gap for groups of students with low pass rates, including low-income, minority and special education students.

DeGraffenreidt said he believes it would be better to keep the goal high but gradually phase in the standards, starting with a low passing score and setting specific dates to raise it. The question for the state would then be how quickly students might be able to meet the new standards.

Senate backs off bill to require confirmation of state school superintendent

On last spring’s tests, about 45 percent of students passed the 10th-grade English exam and only 40 percent of students passed the Algebra I test. If the state lowered the passing score to three on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest, the pass rates would rise to 65 percent for Algebra and 74 percent for English.

The goal of having high percentages of high school graduates ready for college is unrealistic in the near future, some education experts say. Less than half the states require passage of high school exit exams to get a diploma. And only in the past decade has the idea been entertained of making college readiness a graduation standard.

“There is no state in the U.S. that has made the high school graduation requirement the same as a college-readiness requirement,” said David Steiner, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. “It is just not possible politically or otherwise to introduce a system that would prevent that many students from graduating.”

Because last year’s test takers knew the results didn’t count for them, education officials say they believe pass rates will go up as students view the tests more seriously.

In addition, students can take the tests numerous times, and they can substitute a teacher-supervised project if they fail a test. Because the bar for passing state exams was relatively low in the past, very few students were prevented from graduating.

Whether all students will ever be college ready is still a question, said Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative Washington think tank. He believes most states will phase in higher passing scores.

School board member Linda Eberhart, a former teacher, said she is deeply concerned that Maryland may raise standards too quickly for students who have not had the Common Core curriculum for most of their schooling.

“It is going to take 13 years to achieve these new standards,” Eberhart said, indicating that the first class likely to be fully prepared are today’s kindergartners.

She is concerned, she said, that next year’s ninth-graders will be held to an unrealistic standard.

“It is a high standard, and it would be unjust, in my view, to jerk up the standards,” Steiner said. “You have to build a ladder, but you also have to tell the truth.”

Via Baltimore Sun

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Report Says County Has Fewest “highly-effective” teachers.

Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) HQ in Baltimore City. 

Prince George’s County Public Schools teachers are less effective than other districts in the state, according to data released by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) in October.

With about 6 percent of the county’s teachers ranked as ineffective, the county has the second highest percentage of “ineffective” teachers in the state. The county also has the lowest percentage of highly-effective teachers with nearly 7 percent of the county’s teachers considered “highly effective.” The remaining 87 percent of the county’s teachers are considered “effective.”

The teacher evaluation data did not include standardized test scores, but test scores will be considered in evaluation models starting June 2016 at the earliest, said David Volrath, a planning and development officer for MSDE.

“We have to be able to capture a student’s growth, which requires at least two years of data,” Volrath said. “We can’t promise anyone that is even doable in the 2016-17 school year.”

The teacher evaluation data is from the 2013-14 school year, when MSDE launched a statewide implementation of a new teacher and principal evaluation system.

Within the county, the number of ineffective, effective and highly effective teachers ranges greatly. At Kettering Elementary School in Kettering, 38.1 percent of its teachers are considered ineffective. In contrast, 36.4 percent of the teachers are considered highly effective at Oxon Hill Elementary School in Oxon Hill.

“This is a starting point, it was designed for us to answer questions,” Volrath said. “We’re in no position to proclaim anything at this point.”

Parents should be cautious and not over react to the data, Volrath said. “This is a setting of the bar stage, we are using the information in a developmental way to help teachers and principals become better practitioners.”

There was no target for percentages for ineffective, effective or highly effective teachers or principals, Volrath said.

At the state level, the percentage of ineffective teachers and effective teachers was lower, while the percentage of highly effective teachers was much higher than Prince George’s County. About 3 percent of teachers were found to be ineffective; about 56 percent teachers were effective and about 41 percent teachers highly effective.

PGCPS officials say it is not completely accurate to compare Prince George’s County to other counties because of slight differences among evaluation systems, but they also say they are working to recruit and retain effective teachers.

“We need to look at the data and say with this rating, we need to provide this additional support, either systemically or at individual schools,” said William Ryan, executive director of employee performance and evaluation. “We will use the data received to make our teachers better and better and to support our students.”

Deborah Sullivan, director of human resource strategies and workforce planning for PGCPS, said it can be challenging to recruit effective teachers because of the competitive market in the metropolitan area.

“The supply is not meeting the demand,” Sullivan said. “The state of Maryland is an ‘import’ state, we don’t produce enough educators to cover vacancies we have in the area.”

Both Ryan and Sullivan said the school system is bolstering its efforts to recruit and retain effective teachers.

“We’ve increased compensation for more competitive teachers,” Sullivan said.

For current teachers, Sullivan said the school district is trying to improve teacher mentorship and make teachers aware of leadership opportunities. This month, the school system is launching a peer evaluation and mentorship program for teachers new to the county, Ryan said.

>>> Read more Prince George’s County Sentinel.  Read more >>> State study: Prince George’s County teachers rank low and our opinion.

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Union corruption around the world has become a major problem for workers and especially in Prince George’s County District in particular where County Executive Mr. Rushern Baker III has turned them into pig banks starting with ASASP Union, PGCEA, MSEA, ACE- AFSCME Local 2250 and others . >>> Read more ~ Big losses for the Labor Unions in Election 2014.

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Rushern Baker III – Appears to be driving corruption to new heights

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Response to MSDE’s anti-parent stand on MSA opt out

March 7, 2014

After the MSDE distributed a letter to local school boards, linked here, advising them not to cooperate with parental requests to opt out of the MSA testing, parents responded with phone calls and emails of disagreement to the state board.

Henry Johnson, MSDE Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Assessment & Accountability, replied with the following letter to several parents, printed in its entirety. The letter carefully addresses the issue of “opting out” of curriculum by quoting the MSDE’s opinion on a Missouri ruling on dress code.

There are several problems with Mr. Johnson’s carefully crafted rebuttal to parents:

1. The MSA is not curriculum, nor does it test on the curriculum that is being taught in Maryland schools. Rather, parents want less testing and more instruction.
2. Parents are not requesting an “opt out” of the MSDE’s obligation to assess students inclusively. They are simply refusing the test. No law is required to grant parents a right to refuse, as no law requires a child to take the assessment. If there were such a law, it would be unenforceable, as the schools can hardly force a pencil into a child’s hand and make him take the test. Unenforceability would render such a law all but null and void.
3. The COMAR regulations that Mr. Johnson cites are examples of the MSDE allowing the school system to not teach curriculum on sex ed at parent’s request. COMAR regs are passed solely by the Maryland State Board of Education and are not subject to legislative review. Therefore, the MSDE has the undeniable ability to change their regulations to retract the school system’s obligation to administer the MSA, either across the board or only upon parental request.

Mr. Johnson further directs parents to work with their schools to resolve the issue, indicating that the resolution is a decision of the local school, rather than the MSDE.

This harkens the MSDE’s shirking of parent questions during the Common Core “forums” when they told parents to ask questions at their local schools. So once again, the MSDE and Superintendent Lowery are running from problems that the schools and principals are left to deal with. The MSA testing which began this week is putting teachers, students, and principals on the frontline while Superintendent Lowery remains mounted on her steed at the crest of a far-off hill.

The one mistake some parents are making is asking for permission, in the form of “opt out” for something for which the MSDE should be asking forgiveness. Just send your child to school while REFUSING the test. >>> Read more Examiner

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Dr. Lillian M. Lowery Maryland State Superintendent  of schools (Pictured above) has been criticized for showing very poor leadership skills in various ways including discriminatory conduct. She has received an F grade for Common Core meetings and other reform implementations in Maryland so far. Above all, she does not believe in the due process of the law and continues to contribute to the culture of impunity. 

In our opinion, We aver and therefore believe Maryland State Board of Education President Dr. Charlene Dukes (shown here) has demonstrated a culture of corrupt leadership style and continues “an integrated pattern of pay to play,”  High suspension rates, violation of due process rights, manipulation inter alia during her tenure as President for Maryland State Board of Education.

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MSDE Forum in PG County 10/1/2013

On October 1, 2013, Dr. Lillian Lowery Maryland State Superintendent and her company will be touring our beautiful county to answer questions related to common core.  After a firestorm of charges from parents in other parts of the state that questions from the attendees were screened and reworded at the Common Core meeting in Baltimore County on Sept. 19, the MSDE will repeat the same format at the Prince George’s County forum during the meeting at Springdale.

Bill Reinhardt, Public Information Officer for MSDE, said, “We tried it with open mic the first time [in Talbot County] and we got about half the questions answered.”

The Prince George’s County meeting will be the final of four Common Core meetings in the state.

When questioned on how they would address the concerns of parents who said their questions were screened and reworded, he said, “Some of the cards went 4-5 paragraphs, so they were re-worded.”

So, instead of answering half the questions, the MSDE is opting for half-answering the questions.

Please call the office of MSDE Superintendent Lillian Lowery at 410-767-0462 and request that the format of the meeting be open mic instead of written questions.

The Common Core forum in Prince George’s County as indicated is tomorrow October 1 from 7-8:30pm at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale as indicated above.

Don’t be a cattle! Ask tough questions.

STAY INFORMED: Subscribe into our blog to receive free email notifications each time we post a new article.  Thanks for supporting reform Sasscer Movement for Prince George’s County in Maryland!

Dr. Lillian M. Lowery Maryland State Superintendent  of schools has shown poor leadership skills and received an F grade for Common Core meetings so far. 

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“Don’t Be a Cattle!” is a newly formed group that began after the arrest of Robert Small for asking a question out of turn at an MSDE forum on Common Core.  In just one week, the group has amassed a Facebook following of more than 3,500 members and growing.

“Many parents in attendance at the school board meeting on Sept. 19 were growing increasingly frustrated by the screening and rewording of the questions which were required to be submitted in writing.  At no time in the ‘forum’ were parents allowed to ask direct questions, follow-up, or clarifications,” said group founder Ann Miller, whose YouTube video of the incident garnered national attention and has received a million hits.

The MSDE adopted Common Core in June of 2010 in exchange for a quarter billion dollars in federal incentive funding through a Race To The Top grant which was conditioned upon adherence to Common Core.  In all that time, when the MSDE could have been asking for public input and educating parents on the standards, instead there was an information blackout.  The public is only just now, upon its implementation and after the expenditure of untold taxpayer dollars, even learning about the new overhaul to our education system.

Instead of putting out propaganda videos that avoid direct questions, “Don’t Be Cattle!” calls upon Superintendent Lilian Lowery to finally answer direct questions from parents, teachers and the public – openly and honestly without editing.

The list of questions below was compiled by parents who attended the meeting in Towson and feel their questions were never addressed.  They are only a few out of many unanswered questions.

The group is also requesting the protocol of the Question and Answer portion of the meeting be changed to open mic, rather than written questions.

The final MSDE Common Core forum is on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 7pm at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Prince George’s County.

A Sampling of Parents’ Unanswered Questions on Common Core

1. All of the academics on the validation committee for Common Core refused to sign off on it.  What evidence do you have that Common Core will even be effective in improving education?
2. How is selling out our local education system to national standards in the best interest of our children?
3. Why are we going backwards in adopting a one-size-fits-all set of standards?  What about special needs and GT children?
4. Why are we adopting Common Core when testing standards have not rolled out yet?
5. What are the costs to the state of implementing Common Core?
6. How will MSDE prevent data collection from being shared with outside entities in light of the NSA and IRS scandals?
7. With nearly 35% of the States that adopted Common Core making motions toward rejecting the standards, is it wise to gamble with the future of Maryland’s children’s education by moving so swiftly to implement Common Core?
8. If Maryland schools were ranked number one in the nation, why are we spending millions to abandon what was working?
9. Can parents view what data is being collected on their children?  How can parents opt out?
10. What is the policy when parents refuse to allow their children to be subject to Common Core testing as permitted by law?
11. The push to align the SAT and other tests to Common Core standards will affect even private schools and home schoolers.  How does this contribute to school choice?
12. What guarantees do parents have that the requirements for further grants will not become increasingly over-reaching each and every year?

It is time to remind the Maryland State Board of Education that the parents pay the school taxes and entitled to ask questions and God forbid the statement or question is longer than two (2) minutes..

Beginning next year, We are going to do the right thing and start putting people in office that will respect the law and stand up to power hungry unions and beaureaucrats, and their dictatorial ways. It’s time!

We must get our act together, for goodness sake!

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Md.’s teacher certification law criticized…

…Study says requiring a master’s is causing teacher shortages in key subjects

By Liz Bowie,

The Baltimore Sun

7:20 p.m. EDT,

September 6, 2013

After a stint in the military and on his way to earning a bachelor’s degree  in physics from the University  of Maryland, Baltimore County, Rory Holderness decided he wanted to become a  high school teacher.

He enrolled in Towson  University‘s graduate program for teachers three years ago but soon became  frustrated with classes that he believed were more aimed at grooming elementary  reading teachers than someone who hoped to be teaching physics to 16-year-olds.  He dropped out.

“The whole system was pretty frustrating,” said Holderness, who might have  ended up with a career in a classroom instead of working for AT&T had he  found the route to becoming a licensed teacher easier.

A recent report by the Calvert Institute for Policy Research found that  becoming certified to teach in Maryland is so burdensome that it is causing  teacher shortages in key subjects such as science, math and special education.  And the report suggests that the state should alter some of its teacher  certification requirements to open up the field to a larger number of  candidates.

“Maryland’s teacher certification policies are ill-conceived and  counterproductive, particularly when compared to many other states’  certification policies,” said Christopher Ryan, the report’s author.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-teacher-certification-20130829,0,5261314.story#ixzz2eFuzT4rq

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