Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright is in her second year as the state’s top public education leader and remains bullish on the progress that students are making.
“So many good things are happening across our state,” Wright said in an interview with WTOP.
The Maryland State Board of Education is discussing the alignment of goals that are part of the state’s sweeping education reform plans.
Chronic absenteeism and English learners
The state has set out to cut chronic absenteeism in half. It’s one of the top objectives for the Maryland State Board of Education and the Accountability and Implementation Board, part of the reform plan formally known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
According to state data, the rate of chronic absenteeism in the 2022-23 school year was 30%. Two years later, for the 2024-25 school year, that number had been reduced to 25%.
“At this rate, I think we’re going to get there,” Wright said of the efforts to cut the number of students who are deemed chronically absent in half. “We’ve dropped five percentage points. … That’s a pretty significant improvement in just two years.”
Wright said while there was not any hard data, students from immigrant communities are being seen less and less in the classroom due to fears of enforcement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“Anecdotally, the superintendents are saying that is the case — that many of their multilanguage learners are choosing to stay home,” she said.
Wright said superintendents across the state have been given guidance on “what you are and are not allowed to do” under the law.
“I think the superintendents have done a really amazing job with this. They’ve been very concerned about their multilanguage learners and they’ve done some outreach as well,” Wright said.
Teacher recruitment and retention
Maryland has made a concerted effort to boost the number of students choosing teaching as a career. One area that’s received added attention is attracting and retaining teachers of color.
“Children need to see people that look like them in classrooms,” she said. “There’s been a lot of research done that shows that actually it has an impact on student achievement when African American students can see African American teachers or Asian students can see Asian teachers. So it’s important for us to track that data.”
Along with attracting more teachers of color, there’s an effort to retain more of those teachers.
“Teachers need to feel that they belong,” said Wright, who added there’s been an effort to create school climates that are attractive to all teachers. “The research shows that teachers will leave the profession, not because of the money, but because they don’t feel supported.”
The data provided to the state board ahead of Tuesday’s BOE meeting shows that the percentage of teachers of color who stayed on the job over the last three years is up slightly, from 70% to 71%. Wright said that’s important because it does have an impact on student performance.
“Any time that you can retain at a high rate and not have that churn, it only benefits children,” Wright said. “That continuity of instruction matters.”
Testing
When it comes to tracking student progress, Wright said the state has seen an improvement in test scores.
“Not only did we see an uptick in our statewide assessment, but we also saw an uptick in our National Assessment of Educational Progress,” she said.
Overall, the NAEP scores on the tests administered between January and March of 2024 showed scores dropping, but Maryland’s scores showed results that were “not significantly different” on reading at the fourth grade level, for example, and in some areas, scores showed improvement.
“So while other states went down, we bucked the trend and Maryland went up,” Wright said.
Cellphone policies
A number of schools across the D.C. region have updated their policies on phones in school buildings. Wright said in Maryland, a resolution was passed that requires all school districts to have a policy, but the actual rules around phone use or possession would be left up to each district.
Wright said some districts have gone “full-bore” with a “bell-to-bell no cell” policy in all schools from elementary through high school. Others have taken a different approach.
Asked how Maryland education officials will be able to tell whether the policies have an effect on learning, Wright explained the state is currently taking part in a study by Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvania.
“So we’ve been doing surveys of our teachers, surveys of our schools,” Wright said. “I’m anxious to see what the study produces.”
As to whether she herself is too tethered to her phone, Wright laughed and said, “It depends on the day. I try, in the evenings and at least one day a weekend, to just set it aside.”
Parent involvement
Parents often want to make sure their kids are doing well in school, but don’t always know how to do that.
Wright offered plenty of advice.
First, she urged parents to read to their children. Wright has made improving literacy a centerpiece of her state education leadership, and has long advocated for parents to do what they can to find time to read to their children.
Beyond that, Wright said, “I think it’s really important to make sure that children have a place to learn at home, so that they have a little carved out space of their own.”
That could be a spot at a kitchen table or a corner of their room.
“I think it’s important to get engaged with your children as they come home from school,” said Wright, urging parents to ask children about what they’ve learned.
Showing an interest in their education and letting a child explain what they know can reinforce their learning.
Wright said teachers, principals and district leaders face significant challenges, but she remains enthusiastic.
“Everybody’s heart’s in it, everybody’s doing the very best that they can for our children,” Wright said. “We’re all in this to make sure that our children are learning each and every day.”
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