Maryland public school students are approaching their summer vacations, but some school officials won’t get the same break, as they continue plugging away on the state’s huge education reform plan.
School officials from the state’s 24 districts filed updated documents last month detailing their progress on, and problems with, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
The latest filings are a follow-up to brief March reports, of a dozen pages or fewer, in which school officials responded to at least five questions and prompts from the state on the top challenges they are facing implementing the Blueprint. Those documents and the ones filed last month are on the website of the Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB).
School officials in the latest reports cited progress, but they also said they still face challenges that range from funding, to meeting diversity goals and implementing full-day prekindergarten, among others.
Many were like Harford County Superintendent Sean Bulson, a Blueprint supporter who acknowledges challenges.
In a recent interview, Bulson said the Blueprint has helped his district in several areas such as higher pre-K enrollment, youth apprenticeships and high school students taking courses at a community college, a program called dual enrollment.
