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Student test scores, teacher vacancies, middle school sports – those topics and others were covered by Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) Superintendent Mark Bedell when he met with the Greater Severna Park Council via Zoom in September.
Bedell stressed a data-driven approach to prepare AACPS’ 85,000 students for college and future careers. Here are some of the highlights from that discussion.
About 400 more students took AP exams during the last school year. The percentage of students scoring a three or higher has increased. In 2023-2024, the average score of students taking exams was 3.03, better than the previous year’s average score of 2.92 and the 2.68 average from 2020-2021.
“We want more kids to have opportunities,” Bedell said. “Yes, I care about a three or better, but I care more about kids having access, and what we saw by giving more access is that we’ve had a number of kids in this district who absolutely have the aptitude to do this work, but they weren’t being giving the opportunities because it was a gatekeeper model of who got invited in to take APs versus who didn’t.”
Since 2021, AP performance has gone up, with 61% of students in the school district scoring a three or better during the most recent cycle.
“I think sometimes people have concerns — are you lowering the top in order to bring the bottom up,” Bedell said in regard to balancing the needs of low- and high-performing students. “The answer is no,” he said. “The top is moving in our school district too.”
Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) scores have painted a different picture about student performance. English proficiency went from 52% to 53.9% in 2023-2024, and math scores also improved slightly but remained low, going from 25.8% to 27.6% over the last year. Science scores also dipped. Bedell said these trends are being experienced statewide.
“As a superintendent, I’m going to put the good, the bad and the ugly out because even with that decrease, we actually improved against the state when we look at the gap difference, which is probably a concern that we all should be having around these state assessments,” Bedell said.
He questioned state assessments, citing experience from another district where his students performed above the national average on SATs but could not pass state assessments. Bedell also acknowledged there was a lot left to be desired with the curriculum, and although a new curriculum has been implemented, a learning curve was expected. The science and reading curriculum are being modified this year.
“I’m hoping that with these new curriculums, with a new instructional framework which we didn’t have in this school district, that I think all of those things are going to help accelerate how our kids are performing.”
As of September 4, AACPS’ teacher vacancy rate was 67, down from 157 teacher vacancies a year ago and 300 vacancies in 2022. The 67 vacancies are lower than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bedell said.
“We’ve had some of the lowest years, over the last two years, of people looking to leave the school district,” Bedell said.
Additional food service workers are needed.
Countywide, AACPS experienced many administration changes, with Severna Park High School and other schools getting new principals.
Bedell said he wanted to put the school district in the most optimal position. At least three administrators who were not happy with the decision to be moved are now grateful for the change, he said. The moves allow people to diversify their resumes, but he does not expect to make that many changes over one summer again.
“I think there was this mentality that you’re (the) next person up, so it’s your turn, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are the best person to actually move a particular school,” Bedell said. “Sometimes, people have to get a new experience and perhaps come back in order to be able to see and understand how things need to change in a particular school. So we not only looked at data; we looked at schools that were in need. We had a number of principals who requested to be moved. We had a number of principals that, we said, ‘If we keep the principal here, are we doing more harm to this principal by keeping them here than moving them into a better experience?’”
Sports programs for middle schools will launch this spring, with boys and girls soccer expected to be the first two additions.
Bedell compared the Anne Arundel County facilities to those for Kansas City Public Schools, where he previously served as superintendent, and he believes students here should feel fortunate.
“I’m very proud of what we have and the investment that you all make in our schools as a community,” Bedell said. “It allows for us to make this an attractive place for people to want to work and, of course, for people to want their kids to attend.”
Bedell emphasized that AACPS wants students to grow socially, emotionally and academically.
“I don’t care where you come from, who you are, how you show up,” he said. “We have kids who come from conservative families, liberal families, moderate. We have kids who show up from all walks of this country and this world in our school district, and we have a responsibility to make sure that these kids feel that they belong."
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