Choudhury was hired to lead the Maryland Department of Education in July 2021, after spearheading an audacious and much-admired socioeconomic school integration effort in San Antonio. At a moment when the pandemic had turned longstanding inequities into yawning chasms, Maryland was getting a new superintendent of schools whose innovations had already borne fruit. Choudhury, in turn, appeared to be stepping into a job ready-made for a change agent. 

But recently, Choudhury announced he would not seek a second term when his three-year contract ended in June 2024. In July, with the of its chair, the state Board of Education had until 2028. 鈥淔ull on,鈥� the head of a key House committee told the Washington Post, 鈥渢hey love him.鈥�

In September, the love affair ended. 

While support for reappointing Choudhury appeared to fall apart quickly, controversy had swirled for weeks. A July cited current and former Education Department employees 鈥� many of them speaking anonymously 鈥� as saying Choudhury had created a 鈥渢oxic鈥� environment, berating subordinates. Board of Education leaders told the paper they took the allegations very seriously but ultimately rejected the claims.

Shortly after 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 announcement, the board asked him to remain until next summer as an adviser and appointed Carey Wright 鈥� a Baltimore resident who recently retired from a widely lauded run as state superintendent in Mississippi 鈥� as interim chief. 

Wright inherits some bright spots: Released in August, showed that while students鈥� performance in math still lagged, reading proficiency had . Pushing the state鈥檚 24 districts to implement science-backed reading instruction and to train teachers on the new approaches were at the heart of one of 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 most popular initiatives, a grant program called Maryland Leads. 

The seeds of his focus on equity were sown early. The son of immigrants from Bangladesh, Choudhury grew up acutely aware of public education鈥檚 life-changing potential, and the ways in which many are denied opportunity. His grandfather had built the first school in the family鈥檚 ancestral village not reserved for children of elites. As a student in high-poverty schools in Los Angeles, Choudhury lived a variation, singled out for college prep classes while friends languished.

Choudhury started as a classroom teacher but quickly was tapped to help the Los Angeles Unified School District鈥檚 turnaround efforts. From there, he went to work in the Dallas Independent School District, where he helped to design a program called Accelerating Campus Excellence, which gave top teachers hefty incentives to work in the schools with the biggest challenges. credits the approach with improving student outcomes.

Choudhury then moved to San Antonio, where he created a mold-breaking method for measuring poverty and used it to integrate schools according to socioeconomic factors and to more fairly distribute resources, including top teaching talent. The district鈥檚 rapid academic improvements came to the attention of Texas education officials, who modeled new state policies on it. 

Maryland seemed like a natural next landing spot. After , in 2020 a bipartisan coalition of General Assembly members had passed the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future, an ambitious education reform plan that would dramatically boost both school funding and accountability for results. Then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the measure, objecting that lawmakers had not figured out how to fund the 10-year, $4 billion initiative. 

The assembly overrode the veto. Hogan鈥檚 successor, Democrat Wes Moore, has earmarked $500 million to fund the blueprint until 2025. What happens after that is unclear. 

Atypically, Maryland鈥檚 constitution mandates that its state education agency be politically independent 鈥� at least nominally. Governors appoint the Board of Education’s 14 members, who in turn choose the superintendent. In June, with discussion of 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 next contract underway, Moore appointed six new board members.

The board is not the only entity the superintendent reports to, however. The blueprint 鈥� which has the force of law 鈥� is also overseen by a newly created Accountability Implementation Board.

In the exit interview that follows, Choudhury declined to specify what ultimately happened to end his tenure. But he addresses some of the challenges he tried to navigate as well as areas where he wishes he had done things differently. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

When you were tapped to be Maryland’s top education official, it must have seemed like a dream job. The hard work of creating bipartisan agreement about a Marshall Plan had already occurred. The resulting Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has the force of law. You inherited a department that’s independent of an elected executive, and districts that seemed eager for your leadership. Why might that not have been enough?

I still believe the opportunity is there. Over a 10-year period, Maryland will significantly increase its per-pupil dollars across the board, plus the dollars that go directly to historically disadvantaged students. But ultimately, as I always say, the money has to land in the right places, and there have to be the right conditions of support and accountability to pull off the big things. Maryland has created the conditions to do it. 

I came in to do that work and to rebuild a department. Both of those at the same time? It鈥檚 the impossible-possible task. I believed coming in, and I believe now that I have transitioned out, that Maryland has the ability to show what is possible. But it’s not enough to just have the resources. It’s not enough to rebuild a department. It鈥檚 not enough to have a bold leader. You have to also have political will and capital 鈥� you have to stay the course. 

Maryland can show what鈥檚 possible if we stay on the right course for kids. However, in between all of that are a lot of different things related to adult interests and politics, resistance to pain, the tension between local control and setting a standard for excellence. You have to ultimately have people give you the cover to go bold. Decisionmakers all across the state have to want it and support it in order to realize the promise.

I have heard other change agents talk about the process of building bipartisan agreement as warming up the water. Something that needs to happen before a leader with a vision can be tapped. Do you think the process of passing the blueprint did that?

The blueprint was adopted with a lot of support, but it did have good old-fashioned drama leading up to that. It was vetoed, and then there was an override vote to pass it.

Investing in the children of Maryland, giving educators the very best support and families the best possible education 鈥� there is no debate about that. However, there is tension 鈥� and it鈥檚 out in the open 鈥� around the cost and how that is sustained.

How much is enough? At the end of the day, we know adequacy matters. If you’re not going to solve other aspects of society 鈥� from housing and economic mobility to many other structural inequities 鈥� and you’re going to tell families education will give you the tools to get there, you鈥檝e got to make sure that student spending in historically disadvantaged communities, such as Baltimore City or Caroline County Public Schools, out on the Eastern Shore, have the resources needed to overcome the vertical inequity. Where the challenge is, where the unresolved tension exists is, how do you sustain the cost long term? But also, how do you ensure that there’s no retrenched backsliding? 

I am of the opinion that the blueprint got much closer to adequate, immediately. It’s not perfect, but it is pushing it forward. But again, it is not enough to just put in the resources. For example, we know that adopting high-quality instructional materials and giving teachers the tools to master them is very powerful. However, there’s tensions with that that don’t get solved with a law. It could, but implementing it is a whole other thing. 

That does require a state department of education to figure that out and navigate it. That does require being able to get creative and strategic in how you do that. There was not unanimous consent on being more open to more standardization [while] understanding that we have to give up just doing our own thing. That’s something I faced as I did this.

Unlike other state education leaders, you reported to two appointed boards.

Yes, the state Board of Education and, new as a result of the blueprint, an Accountability Implementation Board. Two governing entities who had approval authority. As the leader, you have to figure out how to work with one and the other, how to ensure that any tensions are resolved, how to bring people together 鈥� how to do all those things. Sometimes that is possible. When it’s not possible, you have to figure out how to make it possible. 

This is your fourth post as a change agent. What can you tell us about commonalities that enable change and stymie change?

Let’s start with the commonalities that enable change. You have to have the policy conditions to do great work, but those conditions don’t have to be apples to apples. For example, Texas has one of the stronger literacy laws for teacher training around the science of reading, whereas Maryland does not. However, Maryland does have policy conditions that allowed my team to enable training for staff, which was absolutely critical as part of our recovery.

You鈥檝e got to have buy-in, you have to have a group of talented folks who enjoy impossible-possible challenges. And you’ve got to be able to invest in them and enable them to succeed. The places I have been, I had that. 

Making student-centered decisions requires the cover of decisionmakers, of community engagement organizations and stakeholders. And sometimes even an individual. You may have it coming in, and you鈥檝e got to sustain it as a leader. Otherwise, you’re going to be on some kind of suicide mission. And you’re not going to be able to get the work done. So that matters, big time. 

Now let’s talk about the things that block change. One is not having that cover. Sometimes you have to build toward it, sometimes you just don’t have it. Not having 鈥� or losing 鈥� that matters. 

Another thing that blocks change is if you lose the ability to fund and support the thing you started. Resources matter. If people work against that or move away from that, then you’re done. 

We have research around that. For example, in Dallas, our turnaround work 鈥� Accelerating Campus Excellence 鈥� showed that when we invested more, along with making sure the money is in the right places, it transformed low-performing schools in an extraordinary way. When that money was removed, there was a retrench back. 

Your detractors have depicted you as abrasive and sometimes overconfident. Do you think that’s fair?

I am a passionate leader who wears my emotions on my sleeve. I treat people with a great amount of dignity and respect. If someone asked me, what’s your proof of that? My track record. I’ve built amazing teams. People enjoy working with me to change things in the world.

At the same time, I am passionate about making sure the right things happen. When you come into a place and you are told that the status quo is not working for kids, we are failing children, we are not doing enough, you are going to as a leader rub up against the status quo. You’re going to make some people who have overseen that status quo uncomfortable. 

I am not surprised that I have detractors. We had detractors in this work in Dallas. In this country, when there has been a moment of change, when there have not been detractors? I would love to know. I would love to see polling from the Civil Rights era, on our greatest leaders. Pick your moment in history 鈥� do they happen without some noise? 

This work is very personal. I’m 100% the product of Title 1 schools. I helped my [immigrant] family navigate filling out forms and other things. Our child care scholarship program 鈥� was taking six weeks to get people scholarships. It was very important to me that I set a new standard of excellent customer service. We put in a fast-track application. It has done wonders. We can get people a scholarship within three to four days. We have increased the number of children who are being served by the child care system by almost 40%. 

Look at the data on the rebuilding of the department. It was a place where people used to go to retire and get rehired. It was the place where people 鈥� leaders on the ground, teachers, directors 鈥� would not come to work. During my time, that completely changed. I brought the best turnaround principal from Baltimore City to be my chief transformation and school improvement officer. Before, someone like that would never come to the job. I got the principal of the year to head up our community schools department.

The leadership of the department reflects the diversity of the children of Maryland. I cut attrition to historic levels, cut the vacancy rate and increased retention to nearly a decade low. And all of that while still wearing my passion on my sleeve. I am very proud of that. 

About the confidence? In this role, for the first time I have found myself for my passion. In an update that I provided to the General Assembly on how things were going with the department as well as to address some of the false claims that were beginning to surface, I found myself having to do that. 

I am not sorry for the high expectations. I am proud of what we pulled off. But I don’t know why I found myself having to apologize. I have ideas why.

What do you want from your leader other than confidence that something is going to work for children? I don’t mean a sense of hubris that is not rooted in evidence-based practices. I am talking about if we are going to do things in the world for kids 鈥攖rain up our teachers when it comes to how to most effectively teach reading, scale up apprenticeships and do it creatively using federal dollars we’re not going to get back 鈥� I have to be confident it’s going to work. Is it a perfect science? No, but I have to be a confident leader. 

Let鈥檚 talk about Maryland Leads. You used the state鈥檚 share of pandemic recovery aid to fund grants to school systems to kickstart their efforts to comply with the blueprint. 

As a state chief, you can get people to do something by inspiring them. You have the bullhorn, you have the ability to call a press conference, issue guidance. You have the ability to incentivize via grant making 鈥� especially during the era of American Rescue Plan and ESSER dollars. Third is a mandate: You shall do this. All three are needed ultimately, to get things right.

Ultimately, if you want the work to last beyond you, you have to utilize the first 鈥� inspiration. Getting people to want to ensure effective instructional practices, getting local superintendents, getting local boards, to want to organically move toward the right practices is ultimately going to stick. You can make some things happen faster through a mandate, but when the mandate goes away 鈥� or the wind blows a different way and the mandate is taken away 鈥� is the change actually going to stick? 

And frankly, people need dollars sometimes to pull off what you’re telling them to do. I recently gave a congressional briefing about Maryland Leads. It鈥檚 a drop in the bucket when you think about the recurring dollars that school systems have and what the blueprint puts in. However, we designed that drop in a bucket to shift those recurring dollars into the right evidence-based practices. 

Give us some examples. 

There’s no better example than the science of reading. Maryland is not a state with robust literacy laws. It has some level of law that can be worked with, but it is not ultimately enough to get people to where we need them to be. We used our state set-aside to [incentivize] seven strategies, one of which was the science of reading. Others included reimagining the school day and staff recruitment and retention. It wasn’t necessarily a significant amount of money. But I come back to this idea of a drop of money, designed well, can do extraordinary things. 

Baltimore City Superintendent Sonja Santelises is a very strong academic leader who, prior to me coming in, had a priority of shifting the school system toward evidence-based literacy practices and the use of high-quality curricula. They also started supplementing that curricula to ensure that it reflected the students of Baltimore. 

What Maryland Leads enabled her to do is scale their work around coaching. A Rand Corp. study on the use of high-quality instructional materials shows that it’s not enough just to adopt them. Coaching teachers on how to master their use is where you can truly unlock the power. And they had a significant jump in literacy rates coming out of the pandemic, almost 5 percentage points. That鈥檚 incredible. It鈥檚 one of the highest gains in terms of proficiency, as well as growth. 

Prince George’s County also scaled up its adoption of high-quality material and its training and support for teachers. Of the top 50 Maryland schools that made the greatest improvements, especially in literacy, more than half were in Prince George’s County. 

I’m always thinking about sustainability. In Texas, I could only dream of the dollars that Maryland is putting into its education system. In Texas, we had to make the dollar really sweat. Maryland Leads was designed to last beyond ESSER. If you have skin in the game, an initiative is more likely to last. So we told districts we would match their dollars.

I also used the force of law around the blueprint. We had to design a template [outlining] districts鈥� plans for implementing the blueprint and get the Accountability Implementation Board to adopt it. We asked, what is your high-quality instructional material? Where are you with training your teachers? All of that was us trying, essentially, to use Maryland Leads to supercharge the strategy and then use the blueprint to enshrine it. 

Superintendent Santelises wrote that your work on something called Neighborhood Indicators of Poverty is 鈥渢he strongest work product ever produced by the Maryland State Department of Education.鈥� What is that, and what will it enable?

I do appreciate Dr. Santelises鈥� comment, because she knows that if schools were more adequately funded, as well as given tools to leverage that money to ensure it lands in the right places, and the political cover to do it 鈥� going back to that cover piece, right? 鈥� that she could do even more great things.

When I went to work in San Antonio, Superintendent Pedro Martinez, one of my mentors, was already looking at income. I came in and said, to build a better measure of poverty, you can’t just look at income, you鈥檝e got to look at other factors, like family makeup and home ownership. Our measure ultimately got adopted by the state of Texas. It was used to revamp compensatory funding and bring San Antonio more adequate resources. It took our Title 1 dollars from close to $50 million to close to $80 million. 

It also created something called the teacher incentive allotment that essentially tied teacher placement and impact to pay. If you’re not going to disrupt segregation, then you better make sure that [the most impacted] schools are some of the most expensive and that those teachers are compensated like rock stars. 

One thing that got me really excited about the blueprint, that made me put my hat in for the job, is that to see if there’s a better way to measure poverty, it said the department had to by January 2023. I seized that moment. Based on my team’s work in Texas, we were able to show that there is a much better way to fund our schools and give them adequate resources. Especially students living in abject poverty.

Maryland was already putting significant money into concentration of poverty and compensatory funding. But one of the things we did with that report was show that Baltimore City, as well as some of our rural counties, like Caroline County, were not being given what they should be in order to pull off bigger things quickly. 

We put a model bill at the end of the report: Here’s the way you can enshrine it. And by the way, you should use it not just to give more money to systems, along with another layer of accountability, but also to pay teachers who have the toughest assignments in our state in a differentiated manner. This past legislative session it got introduced. 

If you had it to do over again, are there things you would do differently? Do you have any regrets?

I definitely have reflected on this over the last few weeks, given how fresh my transition is. Yes. I’m into implementation, I like hanging out with my team, thinking through, Okay, we鈥檝e got to pull this off, what’s it going to take? And then monitoring progress. However, as a leader 鈥� and I looked at case studies of other leaders 鈥� you鈥檝e got to spend some time that is not about the work and the strategy and implementing the details. I could spend more time engaging, talking to people who are power brokers, who have more political capital, who have the ability to ultimately be for or against something and can either work against you or for you. 

I know there are moments where I have to say no, this is not the right decision for kids, or no, we can’t change course here. But at the same time, if I could go back, I would maybe take another moment to think through and be like, Hey, maybe it is okay to adapt the strategy here, but not compromise the student-centered focus that I wanted to keep. 

I would have spent more time explaining the changes. Sometimes, I do 20 things at the same time. You have to if you’re going to pull off 20 things. I had a mandate to implement the blueprint, work collaboratively with two governing entities and rebuild the department 鈥� while constantly hearing billions of dollars are going into our education system, we’re failing children, we have to recover from the pandemic. I’m used to moving with urgency. Children deserve that. But I think maybe I could have used my brakes or yellow light and done a little more to explain some things.

I had three years. And I blinked and I was already in my contract renewal phase.

When I first met you, you told me a story about you, as a young person of color identified as gifted in an integrated, high-poverty school, realizing not all your classmates got the same opportunities. That Mohammed, who had that moment as a very young man, has his belief set changed?

That’s an important question. I absolutely have not wavered in my beliefs that the world needs to be changed for kids for the better. That鈥檚 something that has inspired me ever since I visited the school that my grandfather started in the village [in Bangladesh]. That hasn’t changed. I want to build schools, figuratively and literally, and be on that mission. It gives me purpose. 

However, I did have a moment where I asked myself 鈥� especially as I faced the detractors and their attempts to smear my team and my administration, and then ultimately finding myself making the decision to not return 鈥� at what cost? Is this worth everything that you have put in? I had that moment. 

Ultimately, my resolve for wanting to stay the course has not changed. However, as someone who sits in the CEO鈥檚 seat, you have to be ready to make compromises while still moving forward. Don’t do 10 of something, do five of something. Maybe you have to place an adult interest over students鈥� interests 鈥� but for the greater good of still staying the course on student interest. 

I think the young kid that I was when I first declared that I wanted to be in education had a pure drive. You have to be able to pull this off, because children’s lives matter. Definitely children of color and in poverty 鈥� that reflects what happened to me as an individual and what I became. However, if I don’t figure out long term how to better navigate those compromises and still feel like I’m not giving up or selling out, then I should stop. 

I will say it one more time: I believe that I have to learn about the art of compromise. And I can’t tell you what the threshold is. You have to put yourself on that threshold and be like, Yeah, that’s a compromise, but it doesn’t take away from the student-focused goal we have. Or, That’s a compromise that will throw off the work and may potentially also ruin my ability to continue. 

What do you do, Mohammed? I know those moments have to happen throughout a leader鈥檚 journey. And I hope that I’m better for what comes next.

Carey Wright will become Maryland鈥檚 interim superintendent of public schools after the state Board of Education鈥檚 unanimous vote during an online session Wednesday.

Wright is expected to start her new gig Oct. 23 to oversee a public school system with nearly 890,000 students and becoming the leading advocate for the 10-year Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future education reform plan.

Wright stepped down last week as a four-year member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which helps set policies for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation鈥檚 Report Card.

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While serving on the governing board, she worked as state superintendent of education in Mississippi from 2013 until she retired last year.

Wright served at that position since the state board was created in 1982.

Maryland school board President Clarence Crawford said in a brief interview that one of Wright鈥檚 strengths is her work in literacy reform in Mississippi. During her tenure in the state, she鈥檚 credited with increasing the state鈥檚 graduation rate from 75.5% to 88.4%.

鈥淪he鈥檚 also known as a consensus builder. She went to Mississippi not knowing anyone going down there, but somehow was able to develop relationships with a largely Republican legislature and governor,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very fortunate to have her.鈥�

Before Wright takes over, Sylvia Lawson, deputy state superintendent for organizational services, will serve as acting superintendent beginning this upcoming weekend.

That鈥檚 because will resign Friday as the state鈥檚 current public schools leader and the next day become senior adviser for the state school board.

Choudhury will provide education guidance, advice and strategies on state priorities such as the education reform plan.

As part of an agreement between Choudhury and the school board, he will continue to receive his base salary of $310,000 on a current contract that expires June 30. He will also have the option to work remotely or at the department鈥檚 office in Baltimore.

Wright鈥檚 term as interim superintendent will also end in June.

After the board鈥檚 vote, Wright joined the Zoom session and gave brief remarks such as working with the board, department staff, state and local leaders, teachers, students and families.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a grand opportunity here to ensure strong equitable outcomes for all of our students. I just want you to know I intend to take advantage of that opportunity to make sure that this actually comes to happen,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淭hank you, again, for your support. It is very much appreciated. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you much better.鈥�

Crawford said a national search for a permanent leader will continue. He will lead a transition joint committee comprised of some board members and department leadership.

Board Vice President Joshua Michael will lead a search committee with other board members. That group will work to search for a firm to help recruit a permanent leader to begin a new four-year term starting July 1.

Meanwhile, Wright has roots in Maryland, obtaining her bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees at the University of Maryland in College Park. She started her teaching career in the 1970s at Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools.

According to Wright鈥檚 LinkedIn profile, she spent more than 26 years in Howard County public schools as a teacher, principal and director of special education and student services.

In May 2003, when she left Howard County, she headed south to Montgomery County for about six years to work as an associate superintendent at the school system鈥檚 Office of Special Education and Student Services.

Between August 2009 to May 2013, she worked as a chief academic officer and then a deputy chief for D.C. public schools.

She then worked in Mississippi from November 2013 until she retired in June 2022.

Wright also manages her own company called The Wright Approach Consulting. Her LinkedIn page describes her work as including leadership development and training, special education compliance and professional development for administrators and teachers.

Cheryl Bost, president of the state鈥檚 Education Association, released a statement on Wright鈥檚 selection.

鈥淲e look forward to meeting with and learning more about Dr. Wright and her plans as interim superintendent,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o be successful in Maryland, Dr. Wright will need to have an open door for educators, support the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future with a focus on equity, and ensure that schools are welcoming and safe places for all of our students, no matter who they are or where they鈥檙e from.鈥�

Maryland State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury will resign as the state鈥檚 public schools leader Oct. 6, but the next day become a full-time senior adviser for the State Board of Education.

A joint statement released Friday from the board and Choudhury explains that he will provide 鈥渆xpert-level advice, guidance and recommendations鈥� on education policies, strategies and priorities, such as the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future education reform plan.

Sylvia Lawson, deputy state superintendent for organizational effectiveness, will serve as acting superintendent upon Choudhury’s resignation until an interim superintendent is appointed.

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According to a transition agreement between the board and Choudhury, he will 鈥渕aintain current knowledge of contemporary trends and development to ensure the State Board maintains an understanding of issues in a rapidly evolving environment.鈥�

A main job requirement in the agreement: he must report 鈥渄irectly to the President [Clarence Crawford] and Vice President [Joshua Michael] of the State Board of Education.鈥�

If Choudhury wants to meet with legislators and other public officials, he needs to obtain approval with board leadership.

If Choudhury needs to initiate any 鈥渟ignificant discussions鈥� with department staff, he must seek approval from board leadership.

The agreement also specifies that Choudhury and the board won鈥檛 make 鈥渄isparaging or damaging鈥� statements, public or private, to each other or their 鈥渞epresentatives, agents, employees, officers and attorneys.鈥�

In regards to the transition of an interim superintendent, which the board plans to name next month, Choudhury will 鈥減rovide assistance and advice鈥� to the board on department leadership. The next scheduled board meeting is Oct. 24.

鈥淲e wanted to have clearly defined lanes in advance to minimize any potential confusion on the part of staff or on the part of stakeholders as to whom they should speak with,鈥� Crawford said in a brief interview.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e done is we鈥檝e clearly identified where the interim [superintendent] will be on board, and he or she will have the full authority as the superintendent of schools for the state of Maryland,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淸Mr. Choudhury is] going to help us with policy matters. He鈥檚 going to help us do some research [and] help us figure out how to move forward.鈥�

Choudhury will keep his current base salary of $310,000, which is part of his three-year contract through June 30. His senior adviser position will last until then.

Crawford said local superintendents typically have a buy-out provision that allows an individual to be bought out of a contract.

鈥淎t the state level, we don鈥檛 have that option,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne of the benefits at the state level is Maryland taxpayers, the Maryland citizens will still get the benefit of Mr. 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 knowledge and experience. If this were a straight buy out, we would lose all that. In the final analysis, it works out well for the state.鈥�

Michael said in a brief interview the agreement provides flexibility to begin the transition process of leadership.

鈥淚t allows us to continue to benefit from his education policy knowledge and expertise,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e think it is quite beneficial for the state and focus on the future and keep children at the center鈥︹��

In the meantime, Crawford will comprised of some board members and department leadership.

Michael will lead a search committee joined by other board members. That group will work to search for a firm to help recruit a permanent superintendent to begin a new term starting July 1.

Choudhury has garnered praised for his some of his work in Maryland, including a push for reading proficiency and to develop the department鈥檚 strategic plan, as well as support from the teacher鈥檚 union.

But he also received criticism for his leadership style from some legislators and former employees. Gov. Wes Moore (D), who has said the governor should have more influence on the direction of state schools, on 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 performance as superintendent.

The appointment of Mohammed Choudhury as Maryland state schools superintendent has been a gripping story which I have followed closely.

As he was about to assume office in July 2021, I the state board on appointing someone with his potential. Then, in a , I wrote that he 鈥渟eems to be living up to his advance billing 鈥� as a smart and high-powered change agent.鈥� However, I also questioned whether 鈥渉e will be too brash or impatient in his relationships not just with staff but with Annapolis leadership, teacher unions and 鈥�. local school systems.鈥�

In fact, between then and this spring, his relationships rapidly deteriorated across the board: many documented allegations of a toxic work environment; rifts with the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board; growing tensions in his dealings with local districts; and widespread complaints by education advocates.

I this past May, after weighing the pros and cons of his tenure, that 鈥渋t seems unavoidable that Mr. Choudhury must go.鈥� The state board was then negotiating his contract renewal. At first, the board seemed strongly in his corner; however, . Democratic Gov. Wes Moore was when asked just a few days ago whether he supported the renewal.

So Friday鈥檚 that Choudhury would not seek to renew his contract was not the complete shocker that it would have been several months ago. At this point, he seemed to have no choice but to accede to the reality that he would not be offered a contract renewal.

The tale is a Shakespearean tragedy of self-inflicted downfall. I鈥檝e noted that Choudhury 鈥渋s hardworking, smart, data-driven at warp speed and passionately devoted to equity.鈥� But he is also in denial 鈥� unable to get beyond his misbelief that criticisms about him were because he was, in his own words, “.鈥�

The truth is that his ultimate undoing was less his style and much more his substance 鈥� or, to put it more accurately, his lack of substance (disruptive or otherwise): After two years on the job, Choudhury had little to show for it in reform action.

He has been mired for nearly two years in the process of a . But it has not moved beyond conventional platitudes to specific tasks, timelines and measurable outcomes.

A telltale failure is the absence of any significant movement on his part to develop comprehensive instructional reforms, especially in early literacy, while aborting staff initiatives that were underway before his arrival.

Where does the Maryland State Department of Education go from here? It must bring in acting or permanent leadership as soon as possible. The blueprint is in jeopardy, and a first urgent task is to rebuild collaboration between the department and the Accountability and Implementation Board.

The name of Carey Wright has already surfaced as someone who can immediately help. She is the retired nationally acclaimed leader of the 鈥淢ississippi Miracle,鈥� now a resident of Baltimore County and formerly a career teacher and top administrator in Prince George鈥檚, Howard and Montgomery counties school systems. (I wrote about her recently in a : 鈥淚n teaching children to read, Mississippi puts Maryland to shame.鈥�)

There鈥檚 no more time to lose. Educators, elected officials and all of us must rally behind the state board鈥檚 courageous leadership efforts.

Maryland Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, who took the helm of state public schools in 2021 as a change agent and recently faced criticism from state lawmakers, former employees and others, has decided he will not seek a second term.

According to a Friday from Choudhury and the State Board of Education, the superintendent 鈥渨ill pursue other opportunities.鈥� The board will present plans for the transition of a new leader and a national search for his replacement when it meets Sept. 26 in Baltimore.

鈥淭he State Board is grateful to Superintendent Choudhury for his leadership in Maryland through the first phase of educational transformation in the State,鈥� according to the statement. 鈥淒uring the remainder of his tenure, the Superintendent will work with the State Board and other stakeholders to continue the critical work of leading education transformation in Maryland.鈥�

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The board noted several accomplishments under 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 tenure since he took over in July 2021, including guiding the state Department of Education鈥檚 , the Maryland Tutoring Corps initiative and other programs.

, Choudhury said in an interview he was optimistic he would continue his work leading the department on various programs such as the state鈥檚 major education reform plan called The Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future.

However, a new four-year contract .

According to board bylaws, the panel needed to approve a new contract for Choudhury this coming Tuesday.

The board held a to discuss 鈥渁 personnel matter.鈥� Two days later on Friday, Choudhury decided to not seek a second term.

颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 has a base salary of $310,000 and runs through June 30, 2024, though it is unclear if he will remain in his position until that time.

Choudhury, who came to Maryland after working as  of strategy, talent and innovation at the San Antonio Independent School District in Texas, has received national recognition for his efforts on economic integration of schools.

Although he鈥檚 received some praise in his two years in Maryland for analyzing data, decreasing staff vacancies and a push to help local school systems hire teachers from their community, Choudhury has also been  and  with some advocates.

Robert Eccles, a former education official who left the department last year, testified before the board this year requesting a third-party investigation into 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 direction of the state agency, alleging intimidation and harassment of former staff.

鈥淭his is a new day and the right move for everyone involved,鈥� Eccles said in a text message Friday. 鈥淲e all want our education system to meet this moment with the Blueprint, and I have full confidence that the board will select an exceptional leader for this important work.鈥�

But Choudhury did receive support from some board members such as board President Clarence Crawford, who credited the superintendent for achieving the department鈥檚 lowest vacancy rate in a decade. The board has undergone dramatic turnover in the past year. Six members of the 14-member panel have been appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D), while eight are holdovers from the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

Moore, who has recently with Choudhury, released a statement Friday thanking him for leading state schools 鈥渁dmirably during an unprecedented global pandemic and a transformative time for our state’s education system.鈥�

鈥淗is implementation of the initial phase of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has set our students and educators up for success as we continue the work of making Maryland’s public schools the best in the country,鈥� the statement continued.

As far as the next superintendent, the governor said he expects the state board 鈥渢o ensure we find an exceptional leader who will commit to transparency, accountability, and partnership with all stakeholders to improve education outcomes in every corner of Maryland. Our educators, students, communities, and families deserve nothing less.鈥�

Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association, which represents 75,000 school teachers in the state, said the union appreciated 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 鈥渨illingness to always have an open door for educators, his strong focus on the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future, and his data-driven decision-making to help our most challenged students and schools.鈥�

The union hopes the next schools leader will remain committed to Blueprint reforms and maintaining a 鈥渓aser focus on ending the educator shortages.鈥�

Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report. 

The state will divvy up more than $150 million, much of it from its American Rescue Plan funding, through a new grant program called .

Maryland Leads is 鈥渁 choose-your-own adventure style program 鈥� with a curated list of options that only includes programs and strategies we know can effectuate positive results for children,鈥� Choudhury wrote in a statement to 蜜桃影视.

鈥淭his is about Maryland doing the work, leading the way.鈥�

The seven strategies that the effort highlights are:

• Grow-your-own staffing programs to develop teaching talent in-house
• Staff retention programs that improve teachers鈥� schedules, boost mentorship opportunities and give pay incentives for those who stay from one year to the next
• 鈥淪cience of reading鈥� approaches that systematize literacy acquisition
• High-quality tutoring during the school day for students that fell behind during the pandemic
• Restructuring schedules to allow for afterschool learning, summer programming and more effective family engagement
• Collaborations with industry leaders and higher education institutions to prepare students for college and careers
• Community school models that engage families and connect them with needed social services

Districts may invest in as few as two or as many as seven practices to receive funds. School systems that scale up science of reading approaches unlock an additional $2 million in funding, while those that build grow-your-own staffing programs receive an extra $1 million. Funds must be spent before the end of the 2023-24 school year.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really ambitious approach,鈥� Phyllis Jordan, associate director of Georgetown University鈥檚 FutureEd think tank, told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淭he issues that the state is singling out 鈥� are the evidence-based practices that are going to get you to make a difference for students.鈥�

FutureEd has states鈥� and districts鈥� American Rescue Plan spending rollouts, and Jordan said that Maryland stands out for its effort at guiding districts toward approaches that have been proven effective. 

鈥淒istricts often like to make their own decisions. And this way, [Choudhury] is not dictating what they should be doing, but he is giving them incentives,鈥� the researcher said. 鈥淧roviding this sort of menu of options that can bring them extra money seems like a smart approach.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to see Maryland leading through this new program that aims to use American Rescue Plan funds in innovative ways,鈥� U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the release. 鈥淚鈥檓 heartened that Maryland Leads will help districts and schools both respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic and seize the opportunity our current moment offers to reimagine education.鈥�

The grant builds on an ongoing effort in the state called the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future to uplift schools and support historically underserved students. The 13-year plan seeks to boost teacher pay above a $60,000 starting salary by 2026 and convert nearly 1 in 3 schools into community schools that help struggling families access nutrition and health care by 2035, among a number of other goals. 

The funds provided by the new grant will remain a fairly small percentage of the total money many districts in the state received in COVID relief. Baltimore City Public Schools was allocated $443 million, according to FutureEd鈥檚 numbers, while Montgomery County received $252 million and Prince Georges County got $272 million.

Still, the state effort 鈥済ives [districts] some guideposts about the right sort of programs,鈥� said Jordan.

Initiatives to help districts grow their own staff can help recruit a more diverse and qualified set of teachers, successful models show, and can help retain staff. Science of reading approaches have been hailed by educators and researchers alike. Community schools approaches, known to support students and families living in poverty, have been a key part of the Biden education agenda and recently made headlines when Mackenzie Scott donated $133 million to the nonprofit Communities in Schools. And high-quality tutoring can provide a potent academic boost to students who have fallen behind, research shows.

Districts may apply for grants through the Maryland Leads program through April 7, and grants will be awarded April 22. The grants will be non-competitive, with the possibility that each of the state鈥檚 24 school systems, which serve entire counties (with the exception of Baltimore City), could receive funds. The Maryland Department of Education will hold sessions to inform school leaders on the slate of approaches throughout February and March.

鈥淎 return to normal is not good enough,鈥� Choudhury wrote in a letter introducing the Leads grant. 鈥淕aps existed then and they will persist now unless we do something differently.鈥�

Go deeper on the some of the strategies specified in Maryland鈥檚 plan:

鈥擥row Your Own Teacher Programs: Efforts to train a more diverse, home-grown teacher workforce in Rhode Island and Colorado (Full RI story & full CO story)

鈥擲cience of Reading: Texas educators help students gain literacy skills through the pandemic (Read the full story)

鈥擟ommunity Schools: Inside MacKenzie Scott鈥檚 $133 million donation to America鈥檚 top organization focused on preventing student dropouts (Read the full story)

鈥擲ummer Learning: Tulsa returns 11,000 students to campuses in July by putting fun before academics (Read the full story)

鈥擧igh-Quality Tutoring: As schools push for more tutoring, new research points to its effectiveness 鈥� and the challenge of scaling it to combat learning loss (Read the full story)

He鈥檚 a distinctive hire for the Maryland State Board of Education: a young man of color from outside the state, whose approach to changing the status quo has at times led to decisions that rankled parents, politicians, and teachers unions.

鈥淚鈥檓 proud of disrupting the narrative around the expectations for children living in poverty, especially abject poverty,鈥� said Choudhury, currently the Associate Superintendent of Strategy, Talent, and Innovation in San Antonio ISD.

颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 focus on the deepest forms of poverty has defined his work in Texas, and will follow him to Maryland as he takes the helm of implementing the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future, a multi-billion dollar education finance law passed in 2021.

The ambitious new legislation carries many of the same targeted spending programs Choudhury championed in Texas, but with supercharged per-student price tags and local mandates. The Blueprint also addresses concentrated poverty explicitly, familiar territory for the new superintendent.

The Blueprint allocated increased money to schools based on the percentage of children qualifying for free and reduced lunch, the federal proxy for poverty in schools. The first grants, which include both per pupil funds and funds to hire a wraparound services coordinator, will focus on schools where the poverty rate is 80 percent or higher. In subsequent years grants will continue to extend to schools with incrementally lower poverty rates, until the point grants go to schools with 55-60 percent of students in poverty.

This kind of strategically scaled funding has shown up in much of 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 policy work in Texas.

In large cities like the ones where Choudhury has lived and worked, many students meet state qualifications for free and reduced lunch. But shows a difference in outcomes for schools that serve both middle class and working class neighborhoods where many families meet the income cut off for free and reduced lunch, and schools that primarily serve where 40% or more of the families live below the federal poverty line, mobility is high, and jobs are seasonal or unstable.

Without refining how poverty is measured, Choudhury has said in the past, it is too easy for funds and other resources to miss the students who need them most.

To inform any policy or program intended to address inequity, Choudhury developed the four-tiered 鈥渂lock system鈥� based on income, education, household composition, and homeownership. He first used the system to make sure that students from those neighborhoods were represented in the district鈥檚 schools of choice and magnet programs. Choice programs in the district soon fell under 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 Diverse by Design initiative, which used socioeconomics to integrate schools through a multi-step lottery and 鈥渆quity audit鈥� process to ensure each school had a mix of students from each of the four tiers.

鈥淭hose programs鈥攇ifted and talented, Montessori, dual language鈥攖ypically get overtaken by parents who have the political and social power to make sure their kids get in,鈥� Choudhury said, 鈥淲e had to make sure kids coming from concentrated poverty were enrolling.鈥�

Because of the United States鈥檚 long history of economic exclusion for Black, Latino, and many Asian ethnicities, socioeconomic integration will result in racial integration as well, Choudhury said.

Choudhury has plenty of research to back up his passion for integration, but it also comes from his own lived experience.

A first generation American, Choudhury grew up in Los Angeles where his parents, immigrants from Bangladesh, still own an Indian food restaurant. He grew up in racially, culturally, and economically diverse schools in the Fairfax neighborhood, which he said, 鈥渟haped me and gave me a drive to see that experience realized for many, many more students.鈥�

In 2019 Texas passed House Bill 3 which used 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 tiered poverty measurement system to allocate funds for compensatory education and teacher incentive programs.

Like HB 3, the Blueprint includes funding for early education, teacher incentive pay, literacy programs, and college and career readiness. However the Blueprint also includes a massive increase to base student funding: 60% over the next 12 years.

鈥淲ith the Blueprint serving as a guide, the state leaders have shown a remarkable commitment to investing in the necessary systems and structures we need to give our children, especially our most vulnerable, so that they can excel,鈥� Choudhury said.

Choudhury said he was particularly excited that the Blueprint was based on an adequacy study. Adequacy studies start with the desired outcomes, and then determine how much money is needed to reach those goals, instead of starting with budget limitations. It shows the state鈥檚 commitment to doing better by kids, whatever the cost, Choudhury said.

鈥淵ou do not see many states rolling up their sleeves and doing an adequacy study,鈥� Choudhury said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason why our legacy civil rights organizations use this approach. Adequacy studies will show you what it really costs to provide a quality education each and every day.鈥�

While Choudhury may be in his element building systems to increase equity, the new job will be his most public and political position, one that will involve more stakeholder and community engagement than any of those he held previously.

颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 unrelenting focus hasn鈥檛 always been politically expedient. He regularly denies requests from local VIPs to skip San Antonio ISD鈥檚 choice school wait lists for their own children. Even before Black Lives Matter made them common vernacular in 2020, he used words like 鈥渞acism,鈥� 鈥渨hite supremacy,鈥� and 鈥渟egregation鈥� while sitting on panels and public forums, at times implicating the developers and donor-class audiences eager to see San Antonio ISD improve.

But rich white people aren鈥檛 the only ones to bump heads with Choudhury.

When he brokered a deal to bring in charter network Democracy Prep to operate one of San Antonio ISD鈥檚 longest-failing schools, he and San Antonio ISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez found themselves in a maelstrom of conflict with the local teachers union. The move, San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel President Alejandra Lopez said, is part of 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 鈥減ro-privatization agenda in San Antonio ISD that has seen control of our public schools given to private entities, undermining democratic control of public education.鈥�

Lopez pointed to various other agreements Choudhury brokered under the 2017 Texas Partnerships law, which delays punitive accountability measures and pushes more money into public schools if the district cedes oversight of some operations to higher education institutions, government entities, charter management organizations, or nonprofits. In San Antonio ISD, Lopez said, they were forged without meaningful engagement of staff, parents, and community members.

鈥湴涑蟠浅芑宄蟪馨忖�檚 project has been couched in the language of school integration and social justice,鈥� Lopez said, 鈥渂ut our schools have become more and more dominated by standardized testing and a narrow and deficit-centered view of academic achievement, and less and less responsive to and reflective of the complex humanity of our students and their families.鈥�

The district administration has been unapologetic in its effort to raise test scores, but Choudhury pointed to the from district teachers to use ambitious performance metrics 鈥� both test-based and not 鈥� in their evaluations.

“I am inspired by how our educators have chosen to run into the fire to do everything possible to provide the highest quality educational experiences for students growing up in the most debilitating forms of poverty and segregation in our country,” Choudhury said.

The Alliance has repeatedly backed school board candidates who indicated they would demand more public input on controversial policies, and for the first time in six years, succeeded in flipping one board seat this May.

For most of his tenure in San Antonio, 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 initiatives had the benefit of unanimous board support, and alignment with Martinez. In an interview with 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Beth Hawkins, Choudhury said in 2018 that what 鈥渒eeps him up at night鈥� is designing the system in a way that it will last beyond himself, Martinez, and their supportive board.

鈥淲orking in San Antonio has been, to date, the most important work I have done in my career and I鈥檓 happy to be leaving it to an amazing team,鈥� Choudhury said.

Martinez continues at the helm of San Antonio ISD, which has climbed from a failing rating to a 鈥淏鈥� in the last five years.

鈥淲e will always be grateful to him for bringing his passion for academic equity and opportunity to our district and for the impact his influence has had in Texas,鈥� said Martinez in a prepared statement. 鈥淢ohammed鈥檚 dedication and commitment has improved the trajectory of students鈥� lives, and we know he will continue to elevate the impact education has on the children of Maryland.鈥�