Education policy and news site The74 recently profiled Maryland's interim State Superintendent, Carey Wright, and outlined the work ahead of her.
A December 19 article on education analysis and news website The74 introduces readers to Maryland's interim State Superintendent, Dr. Carey Wright, her work in Mississippi, and what she's up against in Maryland. The Maryland State Board of Education voted unanimously on October 4 to appoint Dr. Carey Wright as the interim State Superintendent of Schools for the remainder of the current term through June 30, 2024. She has already indicated interest in staying in the role past that date.
From the article:
Carey Wright, who has been appointed on an interim basis to complete the term of outgoing Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, is a top-tier recruit with deep ties to Maryland. She spent decades working as a teacher and administrator in some of the state's largest school districts before serving a nine-year stint as schools chief in Mississippi, where she was credited with leading a highly successful overhaul to literacy instruction.
Dr. Wright is renowned nationwide for her work to turn around Mississippi public schools with strong gains in literacy. The74 highlighted her accomplishments in the South:
Wright's time in the South coincided with one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of American education. Between 2013 and 2022, Mississippi fourth graders made gigantic strides on both the reading and math sections of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal exam commonly referred to as the Nation's Report Card. While not improving as quickly, eighth graders also saw consistent growth in both subjects, and the success was spread widely among students of differing racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
In all, elementary schoolers in Mississippi began the last decade mired among the lowest-performing students in the country and finished at or above the national average. In fact, a data tool devised by the nonprofit Urban Institute shows that Mississippi would be one of the top-performing states in the country if NAEP scores were adjusted for demographic factors such as race, poverty level, and special needs status.
Wright's reading successes are particularly persuasive for Marylanders as the state grapples with reading proficiency and lasting pandemic learning loss. From the article:
By contrast, Maryland has experienced a steady decline in achievementover the same 10-year span, and its fourth graders now read and compute at a lower level than Mississippi's. This in spite of the fact that Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S. and Maryland one of the richest; according to an estimate by the National Education Association, Maryland spends approximately 56 percent more on each of its pupils than does Mississippi. The release of state standardized test scores this summer showed that while slightly more students passed Mississippi's exams than in 2019, Maryland pupils are still laggingbehind their pre-pandemic performance.
On Dr. Wright's leadership implementing the Blueprint for Maryland's Future ("the Blueprint") and the challenges that lie ahead, especially relationship repair and management:
In part, her duties will include mending relationships with Maryland education authorities, including the state board of education, which were frayed under Choudhury's leadership. A number of high-ranking employees at the state Department of Education quit during 2022, with some complaining of the then-superintendent's allegedly brusque manner. He also attracted criticism for his habit of addressing subordinates through encrypted messages on his personal phone.
...
In particular, she may need to repair her department's relationship with the Accountability and Implementation Board, the body specifically charged with overseeing the Blueprint over the next decade. Earlier this year, the board and the superintendent's office publicly clashed over which entity had the authority to approve districts' plans to enact Blueprint-related policies.
Read the full article.
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