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Maryland spotlights early‑childhood practice as Teacher of the Year honored and LEADS grantees present results
Summary
The board recognized Baltimore pre‑K teacher Beryl Dewdney as Maryland Teacher of the Year and heard local districts report Maryland LEADS grant uses — Grow Your Own apprenticeships and Science of Reading rollout — with early positive literacy signals in some districts.
The Maryland State Board on Jan. 24 celebrated the 2023 Maryland Teacher of the Year and heard local school systems describe how Maryland LEADS grant funding is being used to accelerate post‑pandemic recovery.
Beryl Dewdney, a pre‑K teacher in Baltimore City, was introduced by Superintendent Choudhury and local leaders as the state’s teacher of the year. Dewdney used her remarks to press three priorities for early childhood statewide: integrate executive‑function development into early learning standards, publish practical curricular recommendations, and build a professional‑learning ecosystem for caregivers and educators.
MSDE staff and delegations from Montgomery County and St. Mary’s County then outlined how LEADS grants (federal COVID recovery dollars) are funding grow‑your‑own apprenticeship programs, tuition supports, induction and mentoring, and large investments in science‑of‑reading training such as LETRS and the 95% Group. MSDE presented approximate statewide LEADS allocations cited in the meeting: about $47.5 million for Grow Your Own staff support and roughly $53 million for Science of Reading activities across jurisdictions.
Montgomery County officials reported district strategies including tuition reimbursement partnerships (Notre Dame of Maryland University, UMGC), a teacher apprentice program, and LETRS cohorts; they said reading apprenticeship work is expanding to high schools and that DIBELS screening data is showing improvement in some cohorts. St. Mary’s presenters offered similar implementation examples.
Board members praised local leaders for early gains and asked about timelines to train larger shares of staff; presenters said LETRS participation is voluntary but that many jurisdictions aim to increase full training coverage over the next two to three years.
MSDE said the LEADS grants are one‑time funds intended to seed longer‑term changes and that sustainability will require future funding decisions by the legislature and the department.
