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For a third straight year, Maryland schools made slight gains on the annual report card released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.
The state鈥檚 grades schools on a scale of one to five stars, with five stars going to schools that earn a score of at least 75% on a formula that measures overall school performance.
In the 2024-25 school year, 43% of schools earned four or five stars, up from 41% in the . According to the report, 98 schools garnered a five-star rating in the 2024-25 school year, an increase from 91 the previous school year.
Once again, Baltimore County schools led the way with 23 five-star schools, the most in the state. The county鈥檚 Eastern Technical High School received the most points in the state with a 92, one point higher than two years ago.
For the second year in a row, the Academy of Health and Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College finished in second place, with 89 points.
Also for a second year, two of Worcester County鈥檚 11 schools earned five stars while the other nine all got a four-star rating, for getting a score of at least 60 out of 100 points on the grading formula. The two schools to receive five stars were Pocomoke and Snow Hill high schools.
鈥淚 am incredibly proud of our schools for earning four- and five-star ratings across the board,鈥� Worcester County Superintendent Annette Wallace said in a statement. 鈥淭hese results reflect the unwavering commitment to excellence by our educators, staff, students, and families. Worcester County continues to be an educational leader in Maryland, and today鈥檚 report card release is yet another reminder of how our community鈥檚 investment in public education is transforming lives.鈥�
But this year鈥檚 report may be one of the last under the five-star system: The state still plans to assess overall student achievement but with a new rating system, which could happen in the 2026-27 school year.
One reason for the change is a complaint that the current report card does not show enough student growth. State Board President Joshua Michael, for example, said schools could have increased their scores by 7 percentage points from the previous report, but still kept the same star rating.
According to the department鈥檚 data, about 986, or nearly 76% of the slightly more than 1,300 schools maintained the same star rating from the previous school year and in 2023-24.
鈥淭he biggest problem right now is that growth is not being recognized and differentiating enough between schools,鈥� Michael said during a briefing with reporters. 鈥淪chools are not being rewarded for growth enough in our report cards. Quite frankly, [the] report card right now is too much a proxy of poverty in our schools, and we need more factors that are going to help us differentiate.鈥�
Some of the criteria schools are measured on include academic achievement, progress in English language proficiency, and readiness for post-secondary success. According to the department, schools get a star for achieving at least 45 points.
Part of the star ratings are based on results from the (MCAP), which measures a student鈥檚 proficiency in math, English and science.
Less than after she officially took over in April 2024, state Superintendent Carey Wright announced the creation of a state Assessment and Accountability Task Force to assess student achievement.
That came as 76% of Maryland schools got three of five stars in the December 2023 report card, but only 47% of students in third to eighth grades in that school year were rated proficient in English language arts on state tests, and only 25% were proficient in math.
Wright called the current rating system Tuesday 鈥渃onvoluted.鈥�
鈥淲hen we started digging into it, we just found out that the system that we have right now is really not differentiating amongst schools. I mean, they鈥檙e stuck,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e at 50% proficiency. That means you鈥檝e got 50% that aren鈥檛 [proficient]. So that means there鈥檚 a lot of kids at the bottom,鈥� Wright said Tuesday. 鈥淪o, one of the things that we鈥檙e looking at is, what if we measure the growth of the bottom 25% in addition to measuring the growth overall?鈥�
The school board voted to accept a in December 2024 that included recommendations to revising the current ratings system, designing all MCAP tests using the most up-to-date research and developing a comprehensive communication strategy 鈥渢o showcase positive stories about the assessment system and how schools and districts use the assessment results..鈥�
An accountability advisory group was formed to assess the task force鈥檚 recommendations. It is scheduled to present an update on possible next steps toward a new rating system at the school board鈥檚 Dec. 9 meeting.
Harford County Superintendent Sean Bulson, who attended Tuesday鈥檚 state school board meeting in Baltimore, said in a brief interview he鈥檚 pleased with the star-rating results in his school district: Out of 55 schools, seven earned five stars and another 28 had four stars.
But Bulson said he wouldn鈥檛 mind seeing the star-rating system gone.
鈥淚f I had a real choice, I鈥檇 make it go away and have people go back and just look at look at the [student] achievement,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just look at one element because kids are more complex than one test score, right?
鈥淪o, while the idea is to give something, give people kind of an easy comparison point, I think it obscures a lot of the real work that鈥檚 happening,鈥� Bulson said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it helps people gain a good understanding of what鈥檚 happening in the schools 鈥� and it鈥檚 more complex than one rating.鈥�
