Fast Facts
•Graduation Rate: 77.9%
•Average SAT Score: 1492
•Average ACT Score: 22.1
•4th Grade NAEP Math Score: 48%
•8th Grade NAEP Math Score: 51%
•4th Grade NAEP Reading Score: 43%
•8th Grade NAEP Reading Score: 40%
•Per Pupil Funding: $13,870
•Public School Enrollment: 848,412
Maryland
It is next to impossible to find information about schools in a state that controls not only the information flow to parents, but also the options available to them. A weak charter law puts decisions in the hands of hostile school boards, and legislators put more stock in special interest communications than in parent needs.
There are no public or private school choice options other than the state’s modest charter school program.
SOURCE: The Friedman Foundation for Educational ChoiceMaryland has one of the weakest charter laws in the country because of the enormous obstacles charter applicants face from school boards. Charters face outward hostilities from boards and are micromanaged, operationally limited, and poorly funded.
SOURCE: The Essential Guide to Charter School Law 2013 National Ranking and ScorecardMaryland only offers state-led and district-led online learning opportunities to students and prohibits the creation of online charter schools considerably limiting access eligibility, and the quality of multiple providers of digital content.
SOURCE: Digital Learning Now!Maryland’s evaluations use student growth and other performance measures for 50 percent of teachers’ evaluations, although no one piece can account for more than 35 percent. Neither tenure decisions nor licensure advancement and renewal are based on teacher effectiveness. Ineffective classroom performance is not a ground for dismissal, and the appeals process is not streamlined.
Each district must determine salaries through collective bargaining.
SOURCE: National Council on Teacher QualityThe state has a decent website, but it is difficult to find school report cards. Eight clicks are required to finally get to the report cards. Information on charter school options is available, but it took several clicks to actually find a directory of schools. There are 24 local school boards organized by county and Baltimore City. The governor appoints board members in nine counties. The mayor and governor appoint the members of the Baltimore City school board and the county executive and governor appoint the board in Prince George’s county. The remaining 13 county boards are elected during the general election cycle in November.
Scoreboard
54%
Best Performing Outlets
- ExploreHoward.com 83%
- Frederick News-Post, The 75%
Total stories:
Total media outlets:
Worst Performing Outlets
- Diamondback - Online, The 0%
- eSchool News - Online 0%
Be the Power
- Won't Back Down
- Evaluate Your School
- Explore Choice Programs
- Explore Schooling Options
- Find a Charter School
- Explore Digital Learning Opportunities
- Information is Power!
- National Council on Teacher Quality
- The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
- Digital Learning Now!
- Parent Revolution
- American Federation for Children
- iNACOL
- BAEO
- Your Story
- Action Ideas
- Charter Schools are innovative public schools designed by educators, parents or civic leaders that are open by choice, accountable for results and free from most unnecessary rules and regulations governing conventional public schools. For more information about CER's annual charter law rankings, click here.
- School choice means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the school their child will attend. States that give all parents the opportunity to choose the best school for their child – whether public, private, parochial or charter – ensure Parent Power!.
- Teacher quality comes with strong, data-driven, performance-based accountability systems that ensure teachers are rewarded, retained and advanced based on how they perform in adding value to the students who they teach, measured predominantly by student achievement, along with skills and responsibilities.
- Transparency in education means giving parents access to good and objective information about their schools, student and teacher performance and options.
- The movement toward improving education in the U.S. today includes a strong focus on online learning, an approach that involves a myriad of delivery mechanisms via online tools for students, no matter where they live or attend school. Online learning is opening up classrooms to the world and ensuring students access to some of the best content and educators.