During a recent meeting of the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE), state officials updated board members on progress towards getting all students college and career ready between grade ten and graduation. Current data shows a little more than 50 percent of students met the college and career readiness standard at the conclusion of the 2024 – 2025 school year.
A primary component of the Maryland education reform plan – the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Blueprint) – is making sure all students are college or career ready (CCR) between grade 10 and 12. Officials from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) presented the most recent data on how students are fairing with the new standards and pathways in place that have been implemented since the rollout of the Blueprint began five years ago.
Readiness was measured based on the number of students completing high school that had demonstrated college and career readiness by meeting specified proficiency standards as shown below.
Officials also cautioned that the CCR data in particular is limited to what is available since the standards were put in place in 2024 rather than the start of Blueprint implementation. Dual enrollment data however covers the last 4 school years, starting in the Fall of 2021.
Major takeaways include:
- 54.4 percent of high school completers met the CCR standard at the end of the 2024 – 2025 school year, showing a more than 2 percent increase over the prior year
- 28.3 percent of high school completers participated in dual enrollment, increasing more than 5 percent since the 2021 – 2022 school year
Additional information that was presented broke the details down by student group, race, and jurisdiction showing disparities still present across race, resource, and geographic variables. Board members were eager to hear more about what is creating some of the gaps that appear statewide from county to county. With a handful of questions unanswered, state officials promised to bring forward even more information to supplement the most recent presentation as it becomes available.