Year one under new Baltimore County Public Schools superintendent spells improvement in academics, absenteeism

BALTIMORE -- First-year Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers is celebrating progress for Baltimore County Public Schools in the 2023-2024 academic year.

She gave an update on Monday on the various areas of improvement, marking her first year leading the school district. 

Rogers spoke at Baltimore County School headquarters, outlining pathways to success for BCPS students and staff and noting progress that is either ahead of schedule or right on track.

Last summer, she laid out her plans to form a committee of stakeholders to put Baltimore County schools on the right track.

"This was rooted in research, and there was a rich body of evidence that spoke to the steps that we were gonna take as Baltimore County Public schools to reverse declining performance."  

Results show improvements in elementary reading literacy and math scores, and even a decrease in chronic absenteeism. This school year was also highlighted by Eastern Tech High School being designated as the best magnet school in the state of Maryland.   

"Curriculum is one piece of it. It doesn't work without the second piece, which is professional learning, making sure that all members of team BCPS have the skills and knowledge that they need to do their best work," Rogers said. 

Rogers also re-emphasized the importance of retention and recruitment of the best educators by highlighting the minimum salary for teachers at $60,000, along with empowering them with more opportunities for professional development. 

Those are all signs of momentum for the first-year superintendent. 

"The same way that it took more than a decade to get to where we are, it's gonna take us some time to move back to that place at the top of the state," Rogers said.

This summer, BCPS plans to provide students with learning opportunities through community partners.  This coming fall, they will introduce an online dashboard for their schools to show the public important information about a specific school.