So which is it?

So Which Is it?

The supporters of the tax increase to pay for the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations will tell you that education in Maryland is really struggling and that we need to make this 32-billion dollar investment right now to save our educational system.   But USA Today has ranked Maryland’s educational system as the 6^th best overall among the 50 states.  Some people will tell you Maryland needs to spend more money, but we are already spending $500 more per student than are most states and we are 9^th overall among the states.

On the other hand, we have spent a huge amount of money on high stake tests and on the Common Core standards, but achievement on those tests has not really moved up in the last several decades.  So what is that money being used for?

The United States ranks 9^th among first world countries in reading but 31^st of 79 in math.   It is being suggested that one of the reasons for this fall in math abilities is the “geometry sandwich” where kids have algebra 1 in 9^th grade, geometry in 10^th and then algebra 2 in 11^th grade.   Math experts say this is the wrong way to teach mathematics.  That these are not separate and distinct areas and that instead we should teach math 9, 10 and 11 and integrate all 3 of the foregoing courses as they are actually used in mathematics.  School districts in the U.S. who have tried this new approach have found that the number of students needing remedial algebra in college has dropped from almost 80% to only 8%.   Sounds like something that makes sense.

The high school graduation rate in Maryland is 87.6%.  That number is 12^th in the nation.  But it is falling.  It has now dropped to 86.9%.   Some school systems are blaming the decline on tougher graduation requirements including the Algebra 1 PARCC assessment.   Perhaps that is why the Maryland State Board of Education recently passed on raising the requirement from a scaled score of 3 (current standard) to a scaled score of 4, the standard Maryland was supposed to move to for the 2021 graduating class.   The graduation rate for students with disabilities was down nearly three percentage points to 63.5%.   The overall dropout rate for all students remained at 8.8% for both 2018 and 2019.

What is going on with education in Maryland?   Are we in dire need of a huge infusion of cash to improve?  Not according to USA Today.   Are kids dropping out because we aren’t offering appropriate programming?  Not according to the basically stable dropout rate.   Are students not graduating because the tests that were supposed to raise the standards are causing students not to graduate?  

It is no wonder folks are so confused and wonder why they should throw more money at education.  If only we could figure out what has become of the money the state with the highest median income in the country has already spent.  The message is confusing.