Maryland’s 24 school systems begin returning to class this week, with the state education department entering the new year touting a new teacher-coaching initiative, a fresh attendance campaign, and the last stretch before its standardized test changes for the fourth time in just over a decade.
Frederick County Public Schools opened its doors first, on Aug. 19, with most other districts following over the next week and Wicomico County closing out the state’s first-day schedule on Sept. 1. The Maryland State Department of Education says its priorities this year center on strengthening instruction statewide, starting with a newly launched literacy and mathematics coaching program. The state has hired 51 literacy coaches to work across 13 school districts, reaching 63 schools, while a separate pilot math-coaching effort will run in 14 schools across the Charles, Harford, Kent and St. Mary’s systems. State Superintendent Carey Wright said the investment in coaching is meant to strengthen evidence-based instruction “for every student in Maryland schools,” while state board President Joshua Michael said the year’s priorities include improving instructional materials and modernizing how the state measures learning.
That modernization effort centers on the state’s next standardized test. Maryland just wrapped up the fifth and final full administration of the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, which produced a five-year high: 51.7% of students proficient in English language arts, up 6.4 percentage points since 2021-22, and 27.1% proficient in math, up from 21% over the same period, according to results MSDE released in July. Beginning next spring, grades 3-8 will shift to a new exam, the Maryland System of Testing Academic Readiness, or MSTAR, which state officials say will run about 25% shorter than MCAP — three 40-minute math sessions and three 70-minute English sessions, down from four sessions each under the outgoing test. High school, science and social studies assessments aren’t changing this year. MSTAR will be Maryland’s fourth statewide reading and math test since 2014, following the Maryland State Assessment, PARCC and MCAP in succession — a pattern some researchers have said makes it harder to track whether students are actually improving over time, since each new test resets the comparison baseline.
The state is also launching “Maryland Shows Up,” a new campaign aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism through schools, families and community partners. Maryland’s chronic absenteeism rate — the share of students missing at least 10% of the school year — spiked from about 19.5% before the pandemic to nearly 30% in 2022-23, then eased to 25% in 2024-25, a six-point improvement from the state’s post-pandemic baseline; preliminary 2025-26 data suggests the rate has continued to fall, according to MSDE. Wright said even a small number of missed school days can disrupt a child’s learning and called on families, health providers and community and local leaders to help reinforce the importance of daily attendance.
School systems are set to open on four different dates this year: Frederick opened Aug. 19; Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Charles, Dorchester, Howard, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties open Aug. 24; Allegany, Calvert, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Washington counties open Aug. 25; Caroline and St. Mary’s counties open Aug. 26; Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Garrett, Harford, Kent, Somerset and Worcester counties open Aug. 31; and Wicomico County opens Sept. 1.
