Do you know what the Maryland Blueprint Bill is? You should, as it will directly influence your life as a student in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This 235 page piece of legislation is to raise the standard of public education including funding and policies. Since it is 235 pages, let’s summarize the main points, what you should focus on, and how this will influence you. It breaks down into five pillars; Early Childhood Education, Career and College Readiness, Career and Technical Education, High-Quality Diverse Teachers and Leaders Career Ladder, and Resources to Ensure All Students are Successful. Let’s focus on college and career readiness however you may notice all of these themes tend to overlap. Specifically, with the equitability of the planned offered college and career readiness opportunities. All Maryland public school students must be College and Career Ready before they graduate in order to successfully transition into either the workforce or postsecondary education at a two or four year institution, according to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The preparation for college and careers should be the focus of every lesson and evaluation in public schools. Now if you are an upperclassmen these plans may not happen until after you graduate but underclassmen listen up! And seniors and juniors it’s still good to know what is going into our school system. In my opinion one of the most exciting and shocking changes is students will have free access to a variety of college and professional options. The flexibility of pathways enables students to gain in-depth understanding of a subject, get post secondary credits or professional qualifications, and/or participate in programs for competitive college entrance. Think about your AP Test or CSM Dual Enrollment, all will be paid for instead of coming out of your pocket. In order to make students more college and career ready, there will be changes in curriculum and its alignment. This includes, implementation of high quality materials and changes in required courses. Think about any of your classes, is your teacher pulling worksheets from online sources? Unfortunately, rather than using high-quality resources, teachers usually create or “discover” instructional items. Even while it’s possible that some of these products are of great quality, it’s more likely that they lack coherence and demand excessive time and effort that would be better spent on the teaching process. Additionally, mathematics was identified as the area with “the largest potential for change.” For postsecondary success, any higher-level coursework, such as a full year of geometry and Algebra II, is not required. Based on the results of a study, Maryland students may benefit and be better prepared for college if the graduation requirements for geometry were adjusted to a blend of geometry and statistics. There is information on changes in required assessments, more in depth on the plans of these changes, and the data which backs these choices up. I definitely recommend taking a look at these changes in order to stay up to date with your future! 

References:

https://blueprint.marylandpublicschools.org/

Additionally, take a look at this video created by SMCPS Schools with more information about what the Maryland Blueprint means for our community.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btiQM0Es_A8