State Superintendent of Schools Speaks at Common Core Briefing

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Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lillian Lowery speaks at the CCSSO Briefing on Common Core Implementation.

As reported by the Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland’s State Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Lillian Lowery recently spoke at the Council of Chief State School Officer’s briefing on common core implementation. As described by the Council,

Today, CCSSO hosted a briefing to explore what’s going well, where we can improve and what’s next for implementation of the Common Core State Standards.  June Atkinson, North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Schools, Kevin Huffman, Tennessee Commissioner of Education, Lillian Lowery, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools, and Hanna Skandera, New Mexico Secretary of Education spoke about Common Core implementation in their state. Andrew Rotherham, co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, moderated the conversation.

Materials distributed at the briefing note Maryland as a leader in providing quality professional development for teachers and describe curriculum framework and instructional resources such as the Maryland Common Core Framework.  The Forum’s handout states the following about Maryland’s implementation,

  • Trained over 400 teachers from all 24 districts as master teachers at the Educator Effectiveness Academies and College and Career-Ready Conferences; these teachers also serve as ambassadors and content experts for their districts.
  • Since 2011, a leadership team from every school consisting of a principal, an English language arts, math and STEM teacher participate in annual four day summer training sessions and online follow-up sessions throughout the school year.
  • In 2013-14, the department is conducting district support visits where department staff and content experts visit schools and observe classrooms and hold focus groups on the progress of Common Core implementation.

To view the briefing webcast, see The Council of Chief State School Officer’s website.  For additional information, see the materials from the briefing.