Evidence Synthesis for Maryland’s Blueprint for Success

Problem

The Maryland Governor’s Office wanted evidence to inform state policy around their public education system.

In 2021, the State of Maryland passed the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. This legislation includes comprehensive changes to Maryland’s public education system and substantial increases in educational funding, with the goal of improving student experiences and outcomes from PreK to postsecondary education.

Since the development and passage of the Blueprint, there have been substantial developments in the research base on PreK, K-12, and postsecondary education. The Maryland Governor’s Office of Children wanted a review of the current evidence base underlying the initiatives outlined in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, such as community schools and addressing teacher shortages, to inform the state’s decision-making on the Blueprint’s design and implementation.

Solution

NORC reviewed and synthesized the evidence base on key initiatives outlined in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

NORC designed a rapid-turnaround review to assess the evidence base underlying key initiatives, including community schools and teacher shortages, outlined in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Key initiatives spanned across four pillars:

Early childhood education

High quality and diverse teachers and leaders

College and career readiness

More resources for students to be successful

Given the need for timeliness, our evidence review prioritized existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses to help mitigate the outsized influence of any individual research study. We also prioritized the most recent evidence and then synthesized key research findings related to:

The relationship between the initiatives outlined in the Blueprint and student experiences and outcomes

Implementation considerations and guidelines

Other state models for doing this work

We also analyzed the rigor of the evidence base as aligned with the Every Student Succeeds Act’s Tiers of Evidence and the applicability of the research base to the Maryland context.

Result

NORC’s evidence review helped inform the State of Maryland’s design and implementation of the Blueprint of Maryland’s Future.

NORC produced a synthesis of the evidence base of key initiatives outlined in Maryland’s Blueprint across the four pillars of:

Early childhood education

High quality and diverse teachers and leaders

College and career readiness

More resources for students to be successful

We created a community schools policy brief and teacher shortages policy brief outlining key research findings and implementation considerations for policymakers.

Findings from NORC’s evidence synthesis were shared with Maryland’s Governor, General Assembly, and other state policymakers.