Midsize workplace | No. 3: McDonogh School

When math teacher Robyn Little wanted to incorporate an interactive device called Nearpod into her classes, she knew her supervisors at McDonogh School would embrace the idea.

“There is a sense that teachers are allowed to take risks — and also teach their students to take risks within their problem solving,” said Little, who teaches in McDonogh’s lower school. “That’s something that is extremely exciting.”

That trust extends beyond innovation and into the day-to-day of the classroom at McDonogh, a highly regarded co-ed private school in Owings Mills with nearly 1,400 students ranging from pre-K through 12th grade.

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Cummings & Co. Realtors is a full-service real estate brokerage based on integrity and driven by innovation. With eight locations (Canton, Lutherville, Ruxton, Perry Hall, Federal Hill, Bel Air, Roland Park and Timonium) in the Baltimore metro area, the firm is powered by a diverse team of 375 licensed professionals with experience in all aspects of real estate transactions, including residential sales and rentals, buyer/tenant representation and commercial sales and leasing. An unwavering commitment to personal service and close attention to detail have garnered the company’s reputation for being one of the most respected brokerage firms in Maryland. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

“I give teachers the framework of content to cover but allow them to be creative — and themselves — as they cover that content,” said Darren Ford, who heads up the middle school. “I’m not going to impose my style on you. Children have a great sense of if someone is authentic and genuine. If we’re not, the children are not going to believe in our education.”

There is plenty else to appreciate at McDonogh. The average class size is 16 students. Full-time faculty who are studying toward their master’s degree or advanced professional certificate can have 75 percent of their tuition and registration fees reimbursed. Lunch is free. And staff say that the workplace culture is truly embodied by the “McDonogh Family” nickname.

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“The students, parents and colleagues are all wonderful,” said Cynthia Cox, head of the upper school’s English department. “People smile and laugh a lot. They like to be with each other. They like to be here. So many good things can happen when that kind of culture is in place.”

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Since its founding in 1923, the RK&K team has satisfied public and private sector clients by providing multidiscipline planning, engineering, environmental and construction phase services. It offers innovative and efficient solutions on projects nationwide from its Baltimore headquarters and 21 branch offices in nine states and Washington. RK&K’s technical expertise places it 73rd on the Engineering News Record’s 2018 listing of the Top 500 Design Firms. Its award-winning and diversified staff is experienced in an array of design and construction disciplines, including planning; engineering design; and construction management, inspection and engineering for transportation, environmental, infrastructure, utility, site and surveying and energy/pipeline projects. Every team member understands what it takes to deliver success to clients: Responsive People | Creative Solutions. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

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For the past 10 years, IntelliGenesis, has supported Department of Defense and intelligence community customers by providing next-generation intelligence analysis, language analysis, machine learning/data science, analytic and mission application development, and computer network operations. Its cyber experts and analysts work on the front lines of the cyber battlefield to analyze systems and networks to discover and document vulnerabilities for exploitation or reinforcement. The company's analysts and engineers have extensive experience detecting incoming threats, then performing cyber forensics and reverse engineering to identify and understand various forms of viruses, malware and other cyber attacks that threaten critical systems and data. Its efforts serve to test friendly systems and develop advanced intrusion detection systems, firewalls and other system fortifications; it also discovers and maps adversary systems to support and enable computer network attack and exploitation. It performs continuous monitoring services and develops analytics to automate and enhance threat detection against the latest and most complex attacks, both internal and external to the systems. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)