Maryland proposes education reforms for schools, teachers
Teacher evaluations to be based in part on student test data
Maryland education officials laid out a broad vision Tuesday for improving the state's schools and teaching corps, pledging to put the best educators in struggling classrooms while making them more accountable for performance and boosting emphasis on science, math and technoglogy courses.
The promises came in a 257-page application that Maryland plans to submit to the U.S. Department of Education this year in a bid for a $250 million slice of $4 billion in federal school reform money known as Race to the Top funding.
The long-awaited document — which comes shortly after more than 40 states were rejected during the first round of reform grants — spells out how Maryland would spend its money if selected for the competitive program.
Maryland is "now committed to going from national leader to world-class — not only for some students but for all students," the application says.
Education advocates said Tuesday that they liked the ideas in the proposal, but criticized the state for suggesting certain shifts in education policy that could be unpopular with teachers unions and some school boards, rather than requiring them outright.
"The plan is both lacking in substance overall and the ideas in it are not bold. They do not go nearly far enough to