After a nationwide search, the state school board announced this week the appointment of Karen Salmon as the next state school superintendent. Ms. Salmon, who is currently an interim deputy superintendent in the Maryland Department of Education, spent a decade as school superintendent in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore, as well as several years leading a small suburban school district in New York.
Those experiences no doubt will prove invaluable in her new role as leader of K-12 education in Maryland at a time when the state is facing a number of pressing issues — including charter schools, the ongoing transition to Common Core standards and debate about the role of testing in schools — that she almost certainly will be called on to help resolve. Ms. Salmon will have to be prepared to hit the ground running.
Gov. Larry Hogan has been a strong advocate for charter schools and for changes to the law that would encourage more of them to open in the state. Ultimately, whether he succeeds is in the hands of the legislature, and it isn't Ms. Salmon's job to resolve those political issues. But she will play a crucial role in shaping the debate, particularly in regard to how charter schools are funded.
Maryland is unique in that its charter school teachers are employees of the school districts in which work rather than of the individual schools. They are also bound by the local teachers union contract, unlike charter school teachers in other states, and must petition the state Board of Education for waivers from many of the regulations governing traditional schools. That has discouraged many successful charter school operators from opening in Maryland because they can't hire their own employees and instead must rely on instructors who may not be committed to their particular educational philosophy or instructional methods.
An even more pressing matter involves charter school funding, especially in Baltimore City, where a coalition of charter schools is suing the school department over how much they are owed for each pupil they educate. There are good arguments on both sides, and it's unclear how the courts will rule, given that state law is somewhat ambiguous on the subject. But the state board has a responsibility to weigh in with its view of how the issue should be resolved, and Ms. Salmon will play an important role in formulating those recommendations.
In addition to charter schools, Ms. Salmon will have to tackle the issues raised by the Common Core standards and the controversy over standardized testing. Many parents and teachers have resisted the emphasis on testing as a measure of academic achievement and the growing reliance on the results of student performance on such exams as a way of judging teacher effectiveness. In the past Ms. Salmon has strongly supported the more rigorous academic benchmarks embodied in Common Core standards and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test Maryland uses to judge whether students are meeting the higher standards. But those efforts must be continually nurtured and expanded.
More broadly, the state needs to continually reexamine the factors that contribute to job and college readiness, including whether there should be additional tests before students can graduate from high school. Students who complete all the necessary courses yet fail to pass the state's High School Assessment exams can still graduate if they complete a project related to their school work. But that may not mean they're ready for college or a career given that so many students must take remedial courses before can succeed. Meanwhile Maryland still has not been able to close the racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps between students from its richest and poorest districts.
There are no easy answers to any of these questions, but Ms. Salmon has said she will be an innovator and a "transformational leader" who isn't afraid to shake things up. That's good because keeping up the momentum for reform will be one of her most important challenges.