Testing

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Defending Public Schools

In the next few months, you’ll be hearing and reading a lot from MSEA and your local about the need to defend the teaching profession and raise our voices for strong schools. With the Kirwan Commission — that’s the Commission for Innovation and Excellence in Education — making its final recommendations for a wholly revamped education funding formula to […]

Latest Updates

PARCC Is Going Away. What’s Next?

Photo from Flickr. The news is out: Maryland is replacing the PARCC test with a new state standardized test, to be launched in the 2019–2020 school year. While PARCC’s problems are well documented, much about the new test is still unknown. So what’s next? PARCC May Be Going Away, But Standardized Testing Isn’t Annual standardized testing in […]

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Maryland Wins Big on ESSA Thanks to the Protect Our Schools Act

Photo © Stephen Cherry In September, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) submitted our state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan for federal approval. The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) replied in December with a list of plan provisions that in their judgment did not comply with ESSA. The Protect Our Schools Act — passed last year […]

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Protecting ESSA from the State Board

Winning good policy outcomes isn’t just about passing laws; we need to make sure they are implemented faithfully, too. This summer, MSEA worked with leaders in the General Assembly, the attorney general’s office, school boards, civil rights organizations, and other pro-public education advocates to push back against the State Board of Education’s ESSA draft plan. […]

School Funding|Testing

Press Room

PARCC Scores Show Schools Are Underfunded

Today, the Maryland State Department of Education released Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test results for the 2016-2017 school year. Maryland State Education Association President Betty Weller released the following statement: “This year’s PARCC scores are a reflection of the fact that our schools are underfunded. When you have class […]

Press Room

Maryland Legislation to Limit Testing in Schools Signed into Law

Today, Gov. Larry Hogan signed the unanimously-approved More Learning, Less Testing Act (SB452) into law. The legislation limits mandated testing to 2.2% of the year in Maryland public schools—or 23.8 hours in elementary and middle schools and 25.7 hours in high schools—except in eighth grade, where the limit is at 2.3% or 24.8 hours. Maryland […]

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What’s Next?

“This year, educators were extremely well informed and engaged on preventing privatization and reducing testing,” said Sean Johnson, MSEA’s chief lobbyist. “Our mobilization of partners like the PTA and civil rights groups, plus concerned community members, led to in-person and online activism that propelled the Protect Our Schools Act (POSA) and More Learning, Less Testing […]

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Educators Lead and Win on Testing and Privatization

It’s a giant win for students, parents, educators, schools, and communities. The General Assembly’s passage of the Protect Our Schools and the More Learning, Less Testing acts point once again to Maryland and educators leading the way for improving schools and helping all students. No other state can claim similar success in fighting the Betsy […]

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Betty Weller: We Should All Be Proud

Betty Weller, MSEA President What a great General Assembly session! First, we passed the Protect Our Schools Act that gives Maryland a school accountability system that truly invests in and improves our schools by placing less emphasis on standardized testing and broadening the focus of what’s needed to create a great school — closing opportunity gaps, increasing […]

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