That's right. I teach in Maryland, which according to Collegeboard is #1 in the nation in Advanced Placement Performance and Participation. We have it going on. With this great news, Governor Martin O'Malley proclaimed yesterday that Maryland education needs to move towards focusing on how we are doing globally. His vision is outlined in Liz Bowie's "O'Malley sets goals for schools" article from the Baltimore Sun. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.education25feb25,0,7503658.story)
O'Malley is quoted as saying, "if we want our students to compete in the global economy with students from Europe, Asia and across the world, we should benchmark their academic achievements against students from ... elsewhere in the world." As a Baltimore City school teacher, I couldn't stop but think, my students aren't ready for that. At the end of the article it is mentioned that Baltimore City is going to be participating in study comparing Baltimore to other urban districts around the country. Andres Alonso, Baltimore City Schools Superintendent states that "we need to know where we stand."
My takeaway from that is that overall Maryland public schools are excellent, but Baltimore City schools are not. I wish that O'Malley would invest the money in trying to bring up the Baltimore City school system. Yes, Baltimore City has more money spent per pupil than any other school district, but I think that Baltimore City students need more resources. Sure, for a kid in Howard county passing the AP Calculus exam might be the most stressful thing on his/her mind (I took AP's in high school and yes, I thought that if I failed one my life would be over), but for most of my students, AP's are not stressing them out. It is life outside of school that causes the drama, the fights, and the absences from school. Kudos to Maryland for getting the ranking, but why don't we make sure that every child in Maryland is getting an excellent education before we try to take on the world.
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