Objective: Improve recruitment and professional development efforts to create a high-quality and diverse teaching workforce that reflects the racial and ethnic makeup of the student body across the state of Maryland.
Rationale: Improving recruitment and professional development to expand and diversify Maryland’s teaching workforce is essential to advancing equitable outcomes for all children. Research shows that students, especially students of color, benefit academically and socially when taught by educators who reflect their racial and cultural backgrounds.
Teacher Recruitment
Launch a coordinated statewide outreach and marketing initiative designed to attract and retain high-quality, diverse individuals into the teaching profession.
Recruit and retain high-quality, diverse teachers and school leaders.
Expand funding opportunities to enable highly skilled and diverse individuals to pursue and enter the teaching profession.
Implement the new Teacher Quality and Diversity Program to support teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations
Objective: Maryland’s teacher preparation programs and licensure requirements ensure that teacher candidates meet rigorous standards and high expectations to support excellent teaching and learning in Pre-K–12 classrooms.
Rationale: Strengthening the rigor of educator licensure and preparation programs ensures new teachers entering Maryland classrooms are fully equipped to meet the diverse needs of all Maryland students and help raise academic achievement.
Teacher Preparation Programs
- Award Teacher Collaborative Grants to create new pre- and in-service teacher preparation programs
- Strengthen teacher preparation program approval requirements to enhance rigor and quality
- Increase highly-qualified and diverse candidates and staff within teacher preparation programs
- Progress in Increasing the Preparation and Diversity of Teacher Candidates and New Teachers in Maryland Reports: 2025, 2024, 2023
- Improve New Teacher Practicum Expectations to better prepare candidates for the profession to include:
- Changes to teacher practicum durations
- Competency in instructional components
- Training and knowledge of Maryland curriculum Frameworks
- lassroom observations
- IHE school-based partnerships with local education associations
Teacher Licensure and Certification Updates
- Update in-state and out-of-state teacher candidate initial licensure requirements to ensure candidate preparedness for the profession:
- Develop alternative certification pathways to expand access to the teaching profession
- Maryland approved alternative preparation programs
- Pathways to teaching in Maryland
- Grow your own programming
- Teacher apprenticeship programs
- Opportunities for paraprofessionals to become teachers
- Conditional teacher supports
Objective: Educational leaders across Maryland (including superintendents, school boards, principals, and LEA staff) will be equipped to apply their knowledge of high-performing systems, instructional best practices, school redesign, and transformational leadership to support the implementation of high-quality instructional practices through effective in-service educator training.
Rationale: Effective in-service educator training requires strong leadership to drive instructional improvement and systemic change. Charging leaders to lead this work ensures that training is strategic, aligned with school and district goals, and focused on improving outcomes for all students across the state of Maryland.
New Teacher Induction
- The amended New Teacher Induction programming is aligned to national standards, incorporates evidence‑based induction and mentoring practices, require structured staffing and programmatic requirements, and mandates rigorous evaluation and reporting requirements aligned with Blueprint for Maryland Future’s vision.
- MSDE
presentation on Teacher Induction: Regulatory Amendments
- Comprehensive Teacher Induction and Mentoring
Regulations
Blueprint Leadership Trainings
- In collaboration with the AIB, MSDE developed a cohort-based Blueprint School Leadership Training Program to prepare education leaders in effective school leadership, the Blueprint law, and related components that support its implementation
- School Leadership Training and Grant
Guide
- School System Leadership Trainings for Superintendents, School Board Leaders, and Accountability and Implementation Board members:
- Session 1: Identifying and understanding state and local academic data trends, creating enabling conditions for school leader success, and previewing the leadership training program year-long plan
- Session 2: Designing sustainable systems for the school year
- Capstone Session
- School Leadership Academy for Principals, Assistant Principals, and School-based or District Leaders:
- Session 1: Standards and Assessment Alignment
- Session 2: Systems and Leadership Development
- Session 3: Data-Driven Instruction
- Session 4: Observation and Feedback
Objective: Create a career ladder that professionalizes the teaching profession and evaluates the vital role teachers play in improving student outcomes across the state of Maryland.
Rationale: A career ladder creates opportunities for teachers to advance professionally, deepen their expertise, and build specializations that enhance student learning, while allowing them to remain closely connected to classroom teaching.
Career Ladder
The Career Ladder component of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is intended to support the Blueprint’s goal of transforming Maryland’s education system into a top–performing system in the world.
Having a great teacher in every classroom is essential to improved student learning outcomes. The Blueprint requires every LEA to develop and implement a Career Ladder that strengthens the educator workforce through
competency-based advancement and increased compensation for teachers who qualify for and are selected to serve in advanced teaching roles.
-
The statutory purpose of the Career Ladder (Education §6-1002) includes:
- Transform teaching into a high–status profession in the State;
- Attract high–performing students to pursue the high–status teaching profession; and
- Retain high–quality teachers who gain additional responsibility, authority, status, and compensation as they gain additional expertise.
- Transform the education system in the State into a top–performing system in the world
The Blueprint law also includes how the Career Ladder can be implemented to support these goals:
Support the reorganization of schools to provide teachers with professional learning and peer collaboration time during the school day by having more teachers in each school, including time primarily:
- to work in teams of teachers by subject and grade;
- to work together with other teachers to continuously improve instruction;
- to review together with other teachers individual student needs, including needs related to behavioral issues, and develop plans to address those needs; and
- for professional learning for teachers pursuing NBC; and
Develop and support highly competent school leaders that are able to lead high–performing schools due to their:
- knowledge of teaching and learning;
- experience as teachers, leaders, and mentors of teachers; and
- knowledge of and experience with organizing schools so that all students are successful in the global economy; and
Above all, inspire teachers and school leaders to instill in their students a passion for learning and a mastery of the skills necessary to succeed in the global economy.
- Utilize experts on the career ladder to support curriculum and assessment development
- Align state-wide teacher evaluation system to the Maryland Career Ladder and National Board Certification standards:
-
Five core propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
- Incorporate
Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) within the evaluation process. Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) in Maryland law refers to a structured, peer-driven system designed to improve teaching through mentorship, observation, and data-informed feedback within the Career Ladder evaluation system. Several resources on PAR models currently exist outside the Maryland framework for PAR.
National Board Certification
- Support educators and leaders in obtaining National Board Certification
- National Board Certification is a rigorous, performance-based process that recognizes accomplished teachers who meet high professional standards through a peer-reviewed assessment of practice. It supports better teaching by fostering continuous reflection, growth, and instructional excellence, which leads to stronger student learning outcomes
New Professional Development System
- Design a new professional development system:
- MSDE was responsible for developing a new career-ladder focused professional development program for educators. In consultation with
Learning Forward, an eight-part train-the-trainer series was developed for educators that focused on research-based best practices to support student outcomes for all learners.
- LEAs provide educators with opportunities for growth and leadership to support competencies needed to advance on the career ladder. Refer to 2025 career ladder
plans for LEA-specific professional learning opportunities.
Educator Compensation and Working Conditions
- Enhance educator compensation and working conditions to elevate the teaching profession.
-
LEA attestations for Initial 10% salary increase for all teachers add date required by July 1, 2024
- The minimum teacher salary across Maryland shall be $60,000 by July 1, 2026
- Implement salary enhancements for moving up the career Ladder
- Level 3 Enhancements:
- Achieving NBC (or master’s degree where no NBC option exists) provides a statutory
$10,000 salary increase.
If the teacher works in an MSDE-designated low-performing school, they qualify for an
additional $7,000 statutory salary increase
- Level 4 enhancements:
- Becoming a Lead Teacher provides a statutory
$5,000 salary increase
- Becoming a Distinguished Teacher: provides a statutory
$10,000 salary increase
- Becoming a Professor Distinguished Teacher:provides a statutory
$15,000 salary increase
- Implement collaborative working time over a seven-year phase in period beginning in FY29:
- Collaborative working time is built into the school day by reorganizing schedules so that teachers on the career ladder spend a portion of their time in the classroom and the remainder on professional learning and collaboration. This time allows teachers to work in order to improve instruction, address individual student needs and pursue professional learning such as National Board Certification or a Master’s degree.
- LEAs will gradually increase collaborative planning time for teachers over an eight-year period.
