Teaching Maryland Standards

Teaching Maryland Standards: Toolkits and Professional Development

The information on the website stated it is designed for teachers. It contains instructional strategies, voluntary state assessments by grade level, standard assessments, rubrics, toolkit, resources, and MSDE contacts for the content areas of English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science.

The tools include clarifications, lesson seeds, sample assessments, and rubric release items. This section also included sections that address professional development, early childhood initiatives and students with
disabilities.

In the reading and math areas the transition from State Curriculum to Common Core is prevalent.  The draft frameworks of Common Core are currently available. The area for the toolkit that is being developed for the frameworks in the next few years is already in place. Each content area contains the Maryland Common Core Frameworks, the State Curriculum, Core Learning Goals, Instructional Strategies, Assessment Resources, and Web Resources.

This is a valuable resource for teachers. I was especially impressed with the available tools. Once data is reviewed, having somewhere available to access lessons or resources for that particular standard or weakness is invaluable. There are many resources on the web. However, having what you need at your fingertips is of great importance. This site is a definite time saver. It is my hope that as the transition to Common Core continues the same standard of professional development information and tools will be available to teachers throughout this site.