In August of 2015, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) released a 374-page Report on Local, State and Federally Mandated Assessments in Maryland in response to SB 497 and HB 452, which required the creation of a Commission to Review Maryland’s Use of Assessments and Testing in Public Schools.

According to the Summary, “It is important to note that each Maryland school system makes unique decisions regarding what assessments it
mandates and what assessment decisions are made at the school or classroom
levels. This variation reflects the strong tradition of local autonomy that
exists in Maryland. The legislation specifically excluded assessments
administered school-wide, by teacher and content teams, and by individual
teachers.”

The Testing Commission plans to make recommendations to the state and local boards of education by July of 2016; an overview of the timeline can be found via Len Lazarick of The Maryland Reporter.

Senator Pinsky, a lead sponsor of HB 452, stated, “‘We
didn’t want to legislate solutions… You need to compare apples to apples.’”
Delegate Ebersole, another lead sponsor, hopes for voluntary compliance by the
state and local boards; “‘A few people criticized me and said, “Why didn’t you
pass a law to get rid of testing?” and the answer was testing is very
entrenched, but not entirely unnecessary,’ said Ebersole.”

Last month, Lexie Schapitl of the Capital News Service reported on “a trio of Maryland
bills [that] would limit the influence of standardized testing in schools.”

“Maryland State Education Association President Betty
Weller said standardized testing has ‘changed what school is about,’ and added
that tests are more beneficial when they are teacher-developed and align with
classroom curricula.

“‘It’s no secret that we have a real problem in this
state, much like the rest of the country, with over-testing our kids in school,’
Weller said. ‘Far too many of these top-down, mandated tests that students take
when they could be learning an instrument or doing a science experiment, never
result in useful information.’”

“One bill, with versions filed in both the House and Senate, would limit the amount of time spent on standardized testing to 2 percent of annual instruction time — about 21 hours in elementary and middle schools and 23 hours in high school. However, it “would not impose limits on time spent preparing for standardized tests.”

“Another bill in the House would eliminate a state requirement that districts include Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test scores in teacher and principal evaluations.A third bill, also cross-filed in the House and Senate, would limit a statewide kindergarten readiness test to a random sample of students from each district.”

Meanwhile, a 50-state report card was also issued last month by the Network for Public
Education (NPE), led by Diane Ravitch. According to the NPE, Maryland is among
22% of states who earned a D “for its reliance on high stakes testing”; the only
state with a lower score was Mississippi.