University of Maryland, College Park's Identification as Leaders of Maryland's 24 School Systems Meet This Year's Deadline and Show How They Will Continue Implementing Maryland's Future Education Reform Plan You can seek assistance from these scholars.
Last month, the school's School of Education released a framework for a career ladder for teachers that includes recommendations for professional development, peer evaluation and job description. This document also includes policy summaries of some of the Blueprint Acts approved in 2021.
The framework was designed after the university received a state grant to develop a career ladder framework in partnership with the Prince George's and Montgomery County public school systems and teachers unions.
Career Ladder is part of the Blueprint's five priorities that address hiring and retaining high-quality, diverse teachers.
“The teacher career ladder is one of the blueprint's most formidable components because it has the potential to transform education,” said the document's co-author, Ph.D. Pamela Callahan, who acquired the issue, said in an interview Wednesday. University of Maryland. “It also has the potential to transform teachers into a profession that grows in both responsibility and autonomy.”
Callahan was one of seven professors, researchers, and education leaders who came together Wednesday to talk about the support they can provide to local school leaders, early childhood education, and the hiring and retention of high-quality, diverse teachers. , and discussed support for the Blueprint Plan's top priorities, such as education readiness. We provide support to students entering university and the technical professions, and provide additional resources to students in need.
One such scholar is Simone Gibson, an associate professor of education and urban studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Gibson helps lead the Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity, also known as MILE, which works with states to provide recommendations on literacy programs.
School officials outlined a range of challenges facing the blueprint in a document submitted last month to the Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which oversees the 10-year education reform plan.
For example, several school districts, including Allegany, Culver, and Garrett counties, have cited career ladder requirements as one of their top three challenges.
According to the University of Maryland's Career Ladder document, which serves as a “starting point” for designing career ladder programs, districts must consider teacher growth.
“Districts can and should determine whether there are additional criteria for transfers between levels,” the document says. “For example, Blueprint requires a Level 1 teacher to start teaching. [National Board Certification] “A master's degree is required before proceeding to Level 2. Districts may have additional requirements related to completion of assessments (or scores), achievement of tenure, or other requirements.”
Another recommendation for school districts is to make multilingual learner certification available to school leaders, such as principals and other administrators.
“If you don't have administrators who know what they're doing and understand this, you're not going to get anywhere. Nothing,” said Drew Fagan, an association clinical professor at the University of Maryland. Ta.
He said the state has nearly 110,000 multilingual students, more than doubling from 53,000 students in 2014. In addition to Spanish, major languages such as Creole, Dari, and Pashto are spoken in some households.
Some school districts are seeing an increase in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students.
One way to help these students is to increase dual immersion programs for students who are fluent in both English and another language.
The Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity will hold a dual immersion conference on June 1 at its College Park campus.
Amanda Cattaneo, MILE's professional development program manager, said there are dual immersion programs in Anne Arundel, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George's counties and the city of Baltimore. Two more are scheduled to begin in the fall in Charles and Harford counties.
“We need to be fair,” she said. “The purpose of this program is to culturally and linguistically sustain students who are also learning English.”
