Professional Goals, Hopes, and Dreams

Education Issues in Maryland:

I live and work in Baltimore County, Maryland. Education is a big topic of discussion currently as there are changes being made to the education system. The Maryland State education association (MSEA) is focusing on five specific areas: school funding, testing, evaluations, vouchers, and opportunity gaps.

            MSEA shares that there is currently not enough funding within our school systems, about an average of $2 million of underfunding for every school in Maryland.  MSEA states, “We must give schools the funding they need to be the center of our communities, counties and state again. It is important that families have great public school- and an equal opportunity for success” (MSEA, 2018). In order to fix this problem, educators fought successfully for the “Fix the Fund Act” which will provide an addition $500 million annual increase in school funding (MSEA, 2018). If voters approve this, it will be the first step in more funding and equal opportunities for all schools.

            Within Maryland there is many standardized tests that are required throughout the school year. Educators are sharing that this testing is taking too much time away from learning, preventing students from developing well rounded skills to be successful. MSEA believes there should be more subjects that keep students engaged throughout the school day including art, music, finance, and physical education (MSEA, 2018). There is hope to reduce standardized testing to allow children more opportunity to learn essential skills to be successful in life.

            MSEA is fighting for “fair, transparent, and valid evaluation systems that help teachers improve their practice and student learning” (MSEA,2018). Currently, the evaluation process takes into account student performance on standardized tests like PARCC and MSEA, however, it is argued that these tests to do not truly show what a child may know and personnel decisions throughout the school should not be based on standardized test performance.

            In order to aid in the funding gaps within Maryland, tax payer’s dollars are being used as vouchers and are spent in public and in private schools. MSEA believes this money should only be spent in public school not expensive private schools (MSEA, 2018). The argument is the money going toward private school programs is not helping the low- income children who are experiencing learning gaps.

            There are many opportunity gaps within Maryland. At one point there was more than 45% of Maryland public school students who were low- income families (MSEA, 2018). Closing this achievement gap is a major process, but the first suggestion is to focus on neighborhood schools that serve poor children who should be given the additional supports they need. This is challenging because a large amount of schools need supports.

Professional development:

MSEA provides many professional development opportunities for all educators.  There are workshops provided on numerous topics, trainings, research, and grants. Within their webpage you can search a topic like classroom management and find current trainings that are available for educators. Aside from trainings there are professional development opportunities offered through schools within Maryland and conferences across Maryland throughout the summer which focus on topics like leadership, for example. Within Maryland educators are required to start a Master’s program within 5 years of being hired or start an education track to get their equivalency to a Master’s degree. If this requirement, educators would not be able to hold their certification. 

Goals, hopes and dreams:

I have three main goals currently: to be a continuous learner within the education field to advance my career, to create a child- centered classroom and to become more understanding of the diverse cultures I may see in my classroom. I am challenged with providing appropriate materials for English Language Learners and making sure I am meeting their needs. I hope to have more training in this as The National Education Association (2017) explains a culturally competent educator is open to accepting and respecting the differences among families and has knowledge of each student and their family to better understand the reasons for a child’s behavior. This is an area I hope to grow in in the coming years as an educator. My dream is that every classroom and school has all the supplies needed to best educate all children, allowing each school to be successful and of high- quality.

References:

Maryland State Education Association. (2018). Retrieved from: http://www.marylandeducators.org/professional-development 

National Education Association. (2017). Diversity Toolkit: Cultural Competence for Educators. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/tools/30402.htm