Commentary

This year’s failures of Maryland’s educational establishment will soon be on display. Newly-passed House Bill 1372 requires all school districts to use standardized testing (independently validated, traditional and computer-adapted tests) that will assess learning loss due to COVID-related school closures. This testing is an important first step toward creating accountability for the state’s disastrously mishandled school year and healing the damage that it has caused. Nationwide standardized tests have already illuminated many of the failures of online learning.

Anne Arundel Schools Superintendent George Arlotto has been saying for months that planning was underway for a return to normal classroom instruction next fall. A letter released late last week formalized it in response to a request from the state. No one knows, however, how many students will show up. Enrollment in county schools dropped by about 2,400 students this year. The assumption is that most of these withdrawals are in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has revealed the significant divide in educational opportunity in America. For decades, these disparities were widely known to researchers and educators, yet remained hidden from public view. They have now been brought out in the open. This pandemic set off a cacophony of angry cries from mostly middle-class, white parents outraged over school closures and the implementation of virtual instruction.

After a judge sentenced Donald John Bucalo to eight years in prison for the murder of his daughter, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess released a painful yet necessary statement. Michelle Bucalo’s mental illness should not have been a death sentence. Bucalo shot his daughter to death while she slept in their Severn home. His defense against murder charges was that his daughter’s bipolar disorder had become so uncontrollable that she presented a present danger to her family members, including children.