When Maryland hired a new state superintendent of schools in October, the reaction among education observers was one of excitement 鈥� mixed with a sense of relief.

Carey Wright, who has been to complete the term of outgoing Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, is a top-tier recruit with deep ties to Maryland. She spent decades in some of the state鈥檚 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.

Locals are hoping her appointment can jump-start a similar revival in Maryland, where pandemic-era learning loss has dealt a severe blow to student scores that once ranked among the best in the country. She will also be charged with steadying the Maryland State Department of Education after Choudhury鈥檚 rocky two-year tenure at its helm, which ended in September amid allegations that his leadership style created a 鈥渢oxic鈥� environment and caused friction with state authorities. 

The uncertainty around Choudhury鈥檚 departure (he will continue to collect a salary and act as an advisor to the state board going forward) led to a dilemma that was only fitfully resolved, said Kalman Hettleman, a longtime education policy observer who of the former superintendent. While lambasting the lack of progress on lost learning in recent years, he called the board鈥檚 choice of Wright as his replacement a 鈥済rand slam鈥� selection.

鈥滻t looked like we were stuck,鈥� Hettleman said. 鈥淲e’re un-stuck now.”

Still approved to serve only through the rest of Choudhury鈥檚 term, which ends next June 鈥� the state has to lead a nationwide search for the next superintendent 鈥� Wright that she intends to seek the job on a permanent basis. In her introductory press conference, that she would pursue a dedicated literacy strategy similar to the one she followed in Mississippi, noting that children must 鈥渓earn to read in order to love to read.鈥�

Wright鈥檚 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 on both the reading and math sections of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal exam commonly referred to as the Nation鈥檚 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, 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. 

By contrast, Maryland has experienced a over the same 10-year span, and its fourth graders at a lower level than Mississippi鈥檚. This in spite of the fact that Mississippi is in the U.S. and Maryland one of the richest; according to 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 passed Mississippi鈥檚 exams than in 2019, Maryland pupils are behind their pre-pandemic performance. 

, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education and deputy director of the university鈥檚 Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, said the 鈥渁bysmal鈥� scores caused consternation among the state鈥檚 education community.

鈥淓veryone has recoiled a bit because Maryland is so used to being in the upper echelons of achievement for both literacy and math,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淣ow it feels like we’re stuck in the middle.鈥�

Battling 鈥榗omplacency鈥� on reading

Wright鈥檚 task will be to replicate a version of what she executed in her last stop. 

Mississippi鈥檚 rapid improvement came only after policymakers there 鈥� including, but not limited to, its superintendent 鈥� fundamentally shifted the state鈥檚 approach to instruction and accountability, with a particular focus on reading. Teachers and administrators were provided with special, evidence-based training; literacy coaches were dispatched to schools that struggled with the subject; and in many instances, kids who couldn鈥檛 pass a reading test at the end of the third grade had to repeat the year in school.

The approach reflects a focus on what educators call the 鈥渟cience of reading,鈥� the wide body of psychological and neuroscientific research into how people come to understand the written word. In the last decade, have passed laws informed by that research and designed to put children on a path to reading proficiency by the end of the third grade. Maryland has . The state鈥檚 鈥淩eady to Read鈥� legislation, passed in 2019, mandates that incoming kindergartners be screened for reading challenges, and school districts have been offered funds in exchange for switching to higher-quality curricula, but stricter requirements around student assessment and retention haven鈥檛 been imposed.

Instead, the state has concentrated on rolling out a separate policy, called the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future. Estimated to cost nearly $4 billion before it is fully implemented in the 2030s, the plan seeks to provide more resources to schools serving poor students, extend public pre-K offerings and raise teacher salaries, among other priorities. Its ambition and cost have made it one of America鈥檚 most-watched education reforms, but Hettleman said that the Blueprint鈥檚 authors didn鈥檛 sufficiently emphasize the kind of changes necessary to improve reading results.  

鈥淭he legislative leadership in Maryland thought that the Blueprint was the be-all, end-all, cure-all for everything, and it wasn’t,鈥� Hettleman said. 鈥淭hat bred a kind of complacency as other states developed specific reading initiatives.”

Wright, who declined an interview request, will now have responsibility for making the plan work. In part, her duties will include mending relationships with Maryland education authorities, including the state board of education, which were frayed under Choudhury鈥檚 leadership. A number of high-ranking employees at the state Department of Education , with some complaining of the then-superintendent鈥檚 allegedly brusque manner. He also for his habit of addressing subordinates through encrypted messages on his personal phone.

The effects of the previous years鈥� staff departures are still to be seen. were last updated in 2022, and former senior officials have warned of 鈥渂rain drain鈥� as years of organizational experience are lost, whether due to clashes with Choudhury or more conventional turnover. This spring, it would return over $800,000 in federal funding for salaries and professional development in the area of career and technical education, a move that some former staffers attributed to inaction by leadership. (According to state documents, the Department of Education later allowed for the money to be recouped and disbursed after the original grant term had expired.)

In the final months of Choudhury鈥檚 tenure, that it had reduced its job vacancy rate by over 50 percent. But even that progress wouldn鈥檛 solve the atrophy of staff experience and relationships, Anderson said.

鈥淧eople I had historically worked with at the Maryland State Department of Education 鈥� who I’d had as colleagues for years 鈥� very few of them have remained at the department,鈥� she noted. 鈥淲hether or not the positions are filled, we have to go back to the brass tacks of getting to know who people are, and all our institutional knowledge has been swept away.鈥�

In an October exit interview with 社区黑料鈥檚 Beth Hawkins, Choudhury lamented that he had not 鈥渟pent more time engaging, talking to people who are power brokers, who have more political capital, who have the ability to ultimately be for or against something and can either work against you or for you.鈥�

Supporters of Wright say that her extensive background as a former state schools chief shows that she is able to productively collaborate with the wide array of constituencies that will determine the success of her agenda: the state board, teachers鈥� unions and local districts, which have traditionally operated with considerable autonomy in Maryland. 

In particular, she may need to repair her department鈥檚 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鈥檚 office over which entity had the authority to approve districts鈥� plans to enact Blueprint-related policies. 

Brit Kirwan is the former chancellor of the University System of Maryland and served as the chair of the state鈥檚 , the recommendations of which helped produce the Blueprint. Noting the difficulty of leading an academic recovery in Maryland while simultaneously working to realize generational changes in education policy, he called Wright鈥檚 appointment 鈥渁 gift from the gods.鈥�

鈥淲e’re undertaking a degree of reform that is unprecedented in the United States,鈥� Kirwan said. 鈥淚t requires enormous talent for an administrator in organization and collaboration and building broad bases of support to pull this off.鈥�