Maryland delays a key part of the plan to fix math test scores

Elementary and middle schools will get more time to implement a new rule requiring children to spend at least 60 minutes per day learning math.

Members of the Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday responded to concerns about the new directive and voted unanimously to extend the timeline by one year, meaning school districts now have until fall 2028 to comply.

“We have to do something different in mathematics if we expect to see the gains we’ve seen in reading and English language arts,” said Monica Goldson, the board’s vice president.

The minimum daily minutes directive is one piece of a sweeping math policy Maryland adopted last year. The policy instructs Maryland schools to focus on fundamentals, like memorization of math facts, and requires districts to continually evaluate students for extra support and accelerated math.

Districts will also get more time to develop and offer students a new integrated algebra course and other new high school math courses, including an integrated algebra course — other components of the statewide policy.

Opponents of the 60-minutes rule, which will apply to students in kindergarten through eighth grade, acknowledge the state must tackle its math crisis. Only one in four children passed the state test in math last spring.

But they say the rule may force schools to reduce the time students spend on other subjects, like science, social studies or art.

“Without evidence, you’re about to ruin a schedule that likely produces the best math outcomes in the state,” said Robert Miller, speaking about the schedule used by Howard County middle schools.

Rachel McGrain, executive director of Arts Education in Maryland Schools, implored the board to create a waiver process that would allow districts making progress in math to opt out, require state approval of new schedules and shift the 60-minutes-a-day rule to guidance.

She said she had recently spoken with art educators who were seeing time for art reduced by half to create more time for math, and she opposes such a big shift.

Education officials said Tuesday they are working with national scheduling experts to develop guidance informed by best practices that accounts for scheduling constraints, school day lengths and other variables.

Math instruction time varies widely across the state now. Some children get as little as 43 minutes per day whereas others get close to 90, said Lyndsey Brightful, the state’s executive director of mathematics.

“Without a baseline expectation, we are being OK with [some] students having access to 45 more math lessons per year,” she said.

Goldson, the state board member, called the variability “inequitable.”