Changing The Maryland State Report Card For Schools: A COMPASS Pointing In the Wrong Direction
- Fellow Editors
- 3 days ago
- 11 min read
State Teachers' Union and MSDE Promote Less Accountability And More Radical Partisan Politics
There is a saying in Maryland education, "When you don't like your test scores, change the test." Another saying is "When you don't like your test scores, hide them."
The Maryland State Department of Education is already changing the state comprehensive skills test next year after recent scores were mediocre to poor in the state. Now they want to change how school scores and ratings are reported to the public. And, if you wonder whether the "fix" is in on this, they are working with the MSEA (Maryland State Education Association); the teachers' union, to do it. It's called the "COMPASS" Act or House Bill 1582.
In a state where counties are adopting grading practices that don't hold teachers or students accountable for student learning, they are now going to make sure that parents don't know whether their child's public school has strong academics or not.
Here are some articles on the new "grading" theories:
Currently, the state has a complicated system of measuring school success. They post different areas that add up to give a school a "star rating" of 1-5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. The evaluation includes these areas:
Schools get "points" for each area with some areas weighted more than others. On this chart for Easton Elementary School in Talbot County, one can see the weight of the category and then the number of points the school got in that category:
Readers will notice that ACADEMIC PROGRESS and SCHOOL QUALITY AND STUDENT SUCCESS are given the same number of points, 35, while ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT is only given 20. Since ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT actually refers to how the students in the school did on state testing, one would think that this might be given the same number of points as ACADEMIC PROGRESS. Not so.
If you read the description ACADEMIC PROGRESS, it seems purposely written so it means nothing. It is a word salad that know nothing politicians would love.
Since when does SCHOOL QUALITY AND STUDENT SUCCESS rate higher than how students actually perform academically? Happy students and a well-rounded curriculum (whatever that means) seem to be more important to the state than whether or not students actually learn the skills and concepts they need to be productive adults.
So, changes are definitely due in this reporting system.
However, according to Maryland House Bill 1582, requested by the Maryland State Department of Education, changes are proposed "FOR the purpose of altering the school quality indicators authorized for an educational accountability program in public schools, prohibiting the use of certain indicators in an educational accountability system, and generally relating to accountability in public schools."
In other words, they want to change how the state shows parents and communities whether or not their child's school is a good school. Do you wonder what the "certain indicators" are that are prohibited?
The law will shift Maryland’s school rating system toward more holistic, non‑test‑based measures while preserving guardrails that limit overreliance on standardized testing. Those would be the "certain indicators" such as national standardized testing or other objective academic measures.
Teachers' Union Favors Less Focus On Academics In State Reporting
And the teacher's union is helping them create the very reporting system that will allow the public to judge the schools where teacher's union members work. Seems unethical. Here is MSEA's description of their opinion on the reporting and their role in creating it. They sent this in an email to members. (Their comments are in italics)
MSEA Advocates for Better Report Card School Accountability System
This week featured the introduction of House Bill 1582, legislation that would alter the star rating school accountability system that produces the Maryland’s annual school report cards. The legislation was introduced by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), in consultation with MSEA. As introduced, House Bill 1582—the Comprehensive Outcomes and Measures of Progress for Supporting Schools, or COMPASS Act, is consistent with important guardrails around accountability measures that were established by the Protect Our Schools Act (POSA) that MSEA fought to pass in 2017.
We highlighted the buzzword "guardrails" as this is the left's new term that must be interpreted for the rest of us. The left uses "guardrails" anytime they want to make sure that performance is not honestly evaluated, or they want to diminish the effectiveness of a rule or law they don't like.
For example, House Speaker Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Schumer used the term in a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Thune regarding ICE funding. After talking about all the problems the two Dems had with ICE, they wrote this sentence:
"We believe Congress needs to enact the following guardrails." In other words, they want ICE enforcement weakened. The actions listed would weaken ICE enforcement. "Guardrails" translates to "let's gut ICE. "
The word shows up again in another part of the MSEA opinion regarding HB 1582.
POSA put reasonable guardrails on the amount of standardized testing that could factor into the school rating system. According to POSA, no more than 65% of a school’s star rating could be based on standardized test scores. The remainder of the score is based on School Quality and Student Success (SQSS) indicators—holistic, non-academic measures of school environment and opportunity. POSA responded to overwhelming feedback from educators, parents, and students that far too much time and focus was being spent on standardized testing completion and preparation, narrowing the curriculum and crowding out time for more dynamic and engaging teaching and learning.
Notice again that the word "guardrails" is used to prevent standardized testing being the main component of the school rating system. While many of us think that schools should be judged on how well they are educating students by creating student content proficiency in math, reading, writing, history, etc., the unions prefer that we worry about how "holistic," "non-academic" measures define a school. In other words, if the kids are happy, who cares if they are dumb.
Think about how school climate is measured. It's measured through student and staff surveys which are conducted each year. It's a bit like the survey you get at some stores when you check out. You get to rate how "good your experience was" in the store.
I don't know about you, but I rarely give a store anything less than a 9 or 10 unless I experience terribly rude staff, unusually high prices, and very limited product selection. I'm checking out and in a hurry to get somewhere else. So, even a mediocre store can get a 9 from me. I have no investment in how that store is rated. Students feel the same about these school climate surveys.
So, they fill them out randomly or fill out the little bubbles to make a pattern that has nothing to do with what is being measured. Not a accurate measure.
And what, exactly, is the point of "dynamic and engaging teaching" if it doesn't boost student achievement on objective assessments?
This next provision in the COMPASS Act is the one that shows you how objective academic assessments will be weighted. From the bill:
NO ACADEMIC INDICATOR OF PROFICIENCY MAY BE WEIGHTED AS MORE THAN 20% OF THE COMPOSITE SCORE.
Let that sink in. While standardized test scores aren't the ultimate measure of academic success, they are the one objective measure that is not influenced by human biases. More from MSEA:
The COMPASS Act would be the first update to POSA since its passage. HB1582 retains many of POSA’s important principles and also promotes academic growth and would add the option to measure staffing indicators as part of the SQSS component. MSEA advocates for the report card to utilize a descriptive model that prioritizes transparency, context, equity, and continuous improvement over labeling and scores that overly reduce and simplify the strengths and areas of improvement for individual schools.
The last sentence here tells us all we need to know. The union wants a "descriptive model" that prioritizes such things as "context" (i.e. excuses) and "equity" (i.e. inequality). They ask for "continuous improvement over labeling." Altogether, this means that if a school's scores are bad, they can blame one or a combination of these: the socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, or immigration status of their students. In other words, the union doesn't really believe that all students can achieve academic competence and/or excellence.
Seems racist and elitist to me.
As for "continuous improvement" those buzzwords mean that the school in question might need more money because improvement takes time. In Maryland, improvement has YET to happen, even after decades of throwing money at the schools.
The legislation also stipulates that schools must be compared against schools of similar demographic measures, including the proportion of economically disadvantaged students as defined by the State in accordance with the Federal Government.
So, if you are a school with a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students, you only get compared to other schools of a similar population.
We see what is going on here. Economic elitism.
Apparently, MSDE believes that schools with higher proportions of economically disadvantaged students can't compete and shouldn't compete against other schools with different demographics. Do they have a similar rule for schools with higher minority populations? Higher populations of ELL students? It sounds like an admission that these schools can't achieve.
Again, it sounds racist and elitist.
The bill is scheduled for its first hearing on March 12 in the House Ways and Means Committee
MSEA Wants Teachers To Be Able To Strike
MSEA has other bills it would like passed in the legislature. Notice the emphasis of all of these bills:
Legislation Would Give Educators Right to Strike
Another priority bill that was introduced this week would give educators the right to strike. The right to strike without penalty is a bedrock principle in organized labor that Maryland’s educators are denied—and one that is legal for educators in many other states, as well as for private sector employees. Sponsored by Eric Ebersole (D-Baltimore County), House Bill 1492 would apply to educators and librarians. The bill will be heard in the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee.
Support for HB 1492 from the union should be NO surprise since the Maryland State Education Association has coveted the ability of union members in other states to strike for decades. I'm sure they looked with longing and lust at the San Francisco Teachers' Union strike in February:
Judging from the long line of Democrat sponsors on the above bill, it seems that the MSEA will have a hefty election year invoice coming in for bribes, we mean donations, to politicians.
Does it matter that this will disrupt the education of our children and cause family hardship?
No.
MSEA WANTS TO REACH INTO DISTRICT POLICY AND CITIZENS' POCKETBOOKS
The next bill the union wants is one that would make class size a legal subject for contract negotiations. It's enlightening that they sent out "aspiring educator members" of the union out to lobby for this. Aspiring members are college students who are not yet teachers. Yes, the union has their claws in them even before they graduate. And, these "aspiring educators" were telling delegates that during this teacher shortage, class size was the main issue in teacher retention.
Working teachers tell us it is not, that student behavior and lack of consequences is a bigger impediment to recruiting and keeping new teachers. And, while we support common sense class sizes, is it really up to the union to decide? Many times, class size is determined by available staff, district budgets, and school attendance areas. Now the union wants to poke its greedy head into those areas knowing that hiring more staff means more members and money in their coffers ? Sounds like a conflict of interest. Here is what the union email stated:
On Monday, aspiring educator members of MSEA fanned out to General Assembly members’ offices to advocate for measures to improve the educator pipeline and worker rights, among other issues. In recent weeks, scores of MSEA members have lobbied their legislators and helped them understand issues important to educators.
House Bill 473, addresses a longstanding priority for MSEA to make class size a legal subject of bargaining. Maryland is one of only nine states where educators are barred from even talking about the maximum number of students in a class while bargaining. On a panel with representatives from the Baltimore Teachers Union, MSEA President Paul Lemle* informed the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee that allowing class size to be a subject of negotiation would empower educators to create better working conditions, which in turn would contribute to improved educator hiring and retention and improved classroom conditions for students. Committee members asked clarifying questions that revealed the need to remove class size negotiations from the list of illegal topics in the collective bargaining process. HB473 is sponsored by Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard).
What the union wants is their own "empowerment" while ignoring budget and logistic limits and the economic load on the county and its taxpayers.
MSEA went on to describe their support of more state laws/issues that have nothing to do with education at all. They don't want people to have to show I.D. to vote, don't want police to cooperate with ICE, and just generally hate any bill that provides law, order, and fair elections. Here is how they describe their efforts:
This week MSEA also provided testimony in two dozen hearings on bills to expand worker rights, reduce the educator shortage, increase educator representation in their profession, strengthen voting rights, improve health, and expand fair housing, among other issues.
You know what you don't see in the above paragraph? Advocating for academics, consequences for poor student behavior and violence in schools, parental rights, keeping predators out of schools, none of it.
They do go on to advocate for partisan Democrat issues and to sing the praises of the most ineffective Governor in the history of Maryland, Wes Moore.
The Teachers' Union Supports Extreme Leftist Views (When They Tell You Who They Are, Believe Them!)
Here are their comments on some other bills in the General Assembly that have NOTHING to do with education:
To protect democracy and voting rights, MSEA supported House Bill 332, the No Kings Act, in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery). It would establish civil liability for someone under color of law to deprive anyone of their constitutional rights. The crossfile is Senate Bill 346, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery).
Governor Signs Law to Curtail Local Involvement in Federal Immigration Enforcement
Last week the General Assembly responded to the terror generated by overly aggressive enforcement of immigration law around the country by passing Senate Bill 245/House Bill 444, and on Tuesday, Gov. Moore signed the legislation—effective immediately—to prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deputizing local officers for federal civil immigration enforcement activity.
Though school raids have not occurred in Maryland, educators around the country are reporting the negative consequences for students experiencing the Trump Administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, and immigrant student absences are on the rise due to increased ICE activities around schools. Maryland schools are empowered to protect students under a state law passed last year that requires them to deny ICE agents access to areas that aren’t publicly accessible unless it is an emergency or they have a judicial warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate.
Side Note: There are no verified reports of ICE arresting students inside U.S. schools. So, why is MSEA getting involved? Sadly, because they are an organization whose main goal is to go against the current administration and their policies no matter what. It's no secret what side of the aisle they align with.
We should not be surprised at the stance of MSEA on these issues. They say they represent their membership, but if they are asking their members for their opinions, it's a mystery to many of those members.
But just like which candidates the union endorses in elections, the positions of their membership have never been a consideration in those decisions. Don't forget that only 10 cents out of every dollar of union dues goes to actual representation of teachers. Most of the rest goes to political donations. 98% of those donations go to Democrats.
Union Members, is this what YOU support? Is this where your money should go?
We wrote a story about how they chose their candidates to endorse. You will be surprised:
Jan Greenhawk, Author
February 24, 2026
Jan Greenhawk is a former teacher and school system administrator for over thirty years. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Maryland. She also spent over twenty-five years coaching/judging gymnastics and coaching women’s softball. She was a former county Teacher of the Year and one of five finalists for Maryland Teacher of the Year.
This article was originally featured on the Easton Gazette.
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