If you think the Baltimore Orioles are the year’s biggest turnaround surprise, you haven’t been following the fortunes of the Maryland State Department of Education. It was only about four months ago that the State Board of Education was singing the praises of the beleaguered state superintendent. All the while, as I’ve reported in these pages, implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was lagging, and Maryland was continuing to fall behind many states in the most critical element of school reform: early literacy.
