Education Across the States — News Update
October 27, 2026 · By Charles Mayfield, Executive Producer
The most consequential Maryland education meeting of the month has not happened yet. On Monday, October 26, the Maryland State Department of Education announced that the Maryland State Board of Education will meet Thursday, October 29, at 9 a.m. at the Nancy S. Grasmick State Education Building, 200 West Baltimore Street in Baltimore, in the board room on the seventh floor, with a complete agenda and a livestream available online. Three items on that agenda will reach into almost every classroom in the state.
First, the board will review the 2026 Maryland Report Card, the state's public rating for every school, expressed as one to five stars. The stars are not a single test score: elementary and middle schools combine academic achievement, academic progress, progress in achieving English language proficiency, and school quality and student success, while high schools add graduation rate and readiness for postsecondary success. The board will also review Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program results for high school science and American government — subjects tied to graduation requirements. The announcement did not include the new results themselves, so Thursday is when the state puts its own reading of them on the record.
Second, the board will consider adopting the Comprehensive PreK through 12 Literacy Policy. The early-grades piece, covering prekindergarten through third grade, was adopted on October 22, 2024. A draft adolescent literacy policy was combined with it in April 2026, following public comment and stakeholder input, with further versions in June and in July and August. If the board adopts the combined policy on Thursday, districts will work from a single statewide literacy policy from prekindergarten through twelfth grade.
Third, the board will review regulations to implement the Maryland Phone-Free Schools Act, passed this year and effective July 1, 2026. The law requires each local board to develop, by the 2027–28 school year, a policy prohibiting students from using electronic communication devices from the first bell to the last, including instructional periods, lunch, recess, and passing periods, with protected exceptions for a purpose documented in a student's individualized education program, for a health need covered by a Section 504 plan, or in an emergency. The board will also receive an update on teacher recruitment and vacancies, following the department's October 19 announcement that statewide vacancies had fallen from 2,145 in 2022–23 to 572 this year.
Takeaway: Carry three questions into Thursday's livestream. What does the 2026 Report Card show underneath the stars, especially for the lowest-rated schools? Does the combined PreK–12 literacy policy get adopted, amended, or held? And how specific are the phone regulations about storage, exceptions, and discipline? We will report the board's answers in Friday's Maryland episode.
Listen: Maryland Education Daily — October 27, 2026: Thursday's Board Meeting — Report Card, Phones, and a Literacy Vote · State page: Maryland — Education Across the States
Source: Maryland State Department of Education announcement, October 26, 2026, and the Maryland State Board of Education meeting agenda for October 29, 2026, as covered in today's episode, which publishes its sources in its episode description.