Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright announced Monday that the state education department is starting the hiring process for dozens of teacher coaches, an effort aimed at supporting classroom instruction statewide. The goal is to have the coaches in place by the fall.
Wright compared the role of teacher coaches to athletic coaching during a virtual call with reporters. Teacher coaches are experienced educators who work with teachers on classroom strategies, not employee evaluations.
“Any athlete will tell you the impact of good coaching on their game,” Wright said. “When teachers have access to strong, high quality, effective instructional coaching, students win.”
Under the plan, the Maryland State Department of Education will hire 52 literacy-based coaches, five regional literacy coaches and four regional mathematics coaches.
Among the 52 hires, 35 will be school-based literacy coaches placed across the state.
During the General Assembly session that ended earlier this month, $14.2 million was included in the budget for the plan and to fund those positions.
Wright, who is often credited with bumping up student performance in her previous role as the Mississippi State Superintendent of Education, told reporters, “The research is clear, and other states agree, when teachers have access to a highly effective instructional coach, it has lasting effects on the students of today and those who will follow.”
The placement of the teacher coaches across Maryland will be tied to three factors, including the performance of third graders on the English language arts and mathematics exams of the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, also known as MCAP. That will be based on student performance over the past three years.
Another factor used to decide where the teacher coaches will be placed includes the percentage of conditionally licensed teachers among a school’s faculty and staff. Conditionally licensed teachers are educators still completing full certification requirements.
In January, under the Academic Excellence Program, seven literacy coaches were assigned to support teachers in 14 Prince George’s County elementary schools under a pilot program. The additional hiring campaign is expected to add 15 more coaches to the county school system.
“The statewide initiative will be built on that,” Wright said.
Under the plan, “philanthropic funds” would be used and the goal would be to have a total of 22 coaches in Prince George’s County. Philanthropic funding refers to private or nonprofit financial support that supplements state funding.
The Academic Excellence Program is part of Maryland’s strategy to improve education under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a sweeping multi-billion dollar education reform plan. The initial plan was signed into law in 2019, with the plan for implementing the Blueprint passed during the 2020 General Assembly session in Annapolis.
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