Education In Maryland

Gov. Martin O'Malley reignited his public clash with state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick last week, suggesting that he will soon be looking for her replacement. But for all Mr. O'Malley's wishful thinking, and whatever one may think about some of Ms. Grasmick's actions, she does not serve at the pleasure of the governor - nor should she. Ms. Grasmick is one of the longest-serving superintendents in the state and the nation, and she enjoys a wide reputation for raising standards and pushing accountability.

MARYLAND needs a better-funded, more decentralized state university system. The governor and General Assembly should not play politics with the sensible recommendations of a task force on higher education.The task force embraced most of the points The Sun detailed last month in a four-part editorial series. We are especially cheered by the panel's priorities, topped by enhancement of the largest state campus at College Park and the science and technology campuses in downtown Baltimore and Catonsville.

James D. Fielder Jr., former acting secretary of Maryland's economic development department, has been named vice president for administration and finance at Towson University, the university said yesterday.Fielder, who has a doctorate in higher-education administration, spent several years at Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development, most of it as deputy to Secretary James T. Brady. He took over as acting chief when Brady resigned last year.Fielder left the department when Gov. Parris N. Glendening declined to name him permanent secretary and instead chose BT Alex.

James D. Fielder Jr., former acting secretary of Maryland's economic development department, has been named vice president for administration and finance at Towson University, the university said yesterday.Fielder, who has a doctorate in higher-education administration, spent several years at Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development, most of it as deputy to Secretary James T. Brady. He took over as acting chief when Brady resigned last year.Fielder left the department when Gov. Parris N. Glendening declined to name him permanent secretary and instead chose BT Alex.

IS THIS "deja vu all over again," as that noted social philosopher, Lawrence Peter Berra, once put it? Ten years ago, Gov. William Donald Schaefer made a major commitment to public higher education in Maryland. Now, Gov. Parris N. Glendening has made a similar pledge. Can Mr. Glendening succeed where his predecessor failed?If so, it would be a long-overdue recognition that top-caliber state colleges and universities are essential for 21st-century Maryland's prosperity. Too often, higher education has been shunted aside by state leaders in favor of more popular causes, especially the constant demand for more local school aid in grades K-12.

Maryland is losing opportunities to become a national leader in information technology and job creation because politicians, academics and business leaders fail to act together, the outgoing University of Maryland, College Park president said yesterday.William E. Kirwan, who leaves this summer to become president of Ohio State University, said Maryland can realistically aspire to join California's Silicon Valley and North Carolina's Research Triangle Park as a technological hot spot.But the state needs a top-flight flagship university, a more aggressive marketing strategy and more private and public investment in higher education, he said.

Members of a task force examining the governance of higher education in Maryland say they have yet to begin discussing their recommendations, but the group's chairman, Adm. Charles R. Larson, is confident it will issue its report on time."

EVERY 10 years or so, someone gets the itch to reshuffle the colleges and universities in Maryland.It's happening again. State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. have named a 21-member task force to look at the structure of public higher education.Miller says the 10-year-old organizational plan in effect is keeping the flagship campus in College Park (which is in his district) from fulfilling its potential. There's also unhappiness at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and at Towson University.

NOTHING William E. Kirwan has said in his long career at the University of Maryland compares with the responsive chord he struck in explaining why he's leaving. His criticisms have given impetus to a major reassessment of how public higher education is treated in Maryland.It won't be easy to change a mind-set that has held state colleges in low regard for so long. In the past 10 years, state support for these schools has dropped from 50 percent of total budget to 30 percent -- far too little for Maryland's public universities to begin (or continue)

IT took years of laying the groundwork, but the conversation about education in Maryland is heading in a promising direction. Instead of a debate centering on funding, this state has succeeded in adding a crucial word to the discussion -- accountability.Last year's partnership agreement between Baltimore and the state was based on the notion that increasing the school system's level of accountability for student achievement was a fair exchange for more funding.With that precedent, it becomes more difficult to hand out aid packages to school systems without the notion of accountability as part of the equation.

Can you name the beginning solo instrument in George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"? Identify the style of visual art called Surrealism? Draw a self-portrait and explain the "memory of place" you used in drawing it? A federal report on the state of U.S. arts education, issued last week, could help assure that Maryland students can ace these and similar questions by the time they reach eighth grade. But progress depends on a willingness by state educators, government officials and parents to view the report as a long-awaited opportunity, not merely as a data-laden critique.

Limiting 'alcopops' helps protect teens A bill before the House of Delegates aims to block the sale of so-called alcopops, or sweetened high-alcohol beverages, in establishments with beer-only sales licenses ("'Alcopops' bill takes a beating," Feb. 25). These stores are places where kids congregate. And some studies suggest that teenagers are, by a wide margin, more familiar with these entry-level alcohol products than adults are and that at least 46 percent of all kids who drink have used alcopops.

Refreshing candor from the new leader Watching Steve Kroft's post-election interview with President-elect Barack Obama, I was braced for the wearisome bluster, swagger and hot-air rhetoric that have come with every (so-called) presidential figure in recent memory ("'60 Minutes' scores with Obama interview," Nov. 20). But they didn't come. Instead, we saw a future commander in chief deliver his thoughts with unprecedented calm, clarity, composure and, finally, straight talk. It was a thrilling moment, but not in the standard sense: not because of Mr. Obama's victory but because of the excitement I felt as I watched our president-elect answer questions in a cool-headed and sincere manner.

JHU dean of education Fessler says he is retiring Ralph Fessler, who has led the education programs at the Johns Hopkins University over the past 25 years and is a leader in teacher education in Maryland, will retire as dean of the School of Education at the end of the academic year, the university announced yesterday. Officials said they would conduct a national search for his replacement. Fessler, 66, was hired in 1983 to take charge of the graduate division of education and held various posts related to education and training teachers for kindergarten through 12th grade.

Early education still short of funds I am pleased that education officials cited investments in early childhood education as one of the factors contributing to recent improvements in math and reading scores in Maryland schools. However, I respectfully take issue with The Sun's suggestion that the state has "poured" additional money into early education ("Test scores rise," July 15). Although there have been important funding increases for several programs, most major components of early childhood education continue to be substantially under-funded.

Maryland is rightly referred to as "the land of pleasant living." We enjoy a healthy economy that relies on an educated work force serving many large federal agencies and private companies. Higher education in Maryland is vital in driving this economy. From our community colleges to our research universities, higher education is the wellspring of Maryland's technicians, health care professionals, engineers, information specialists and biomedical researchers - to name just a few. This is why Gov. Martin O'Malley's efforts to increase funding for higher education are so important.

Gov. Martin O'Malley reignited his public clash with state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick last week, suggesting that he will soon be looking for her replacement. But for all Mr. O'Malley's wishful thinking, and whatever one may think about some of Ms. Grasmick's actions, she does not serve at the pleasure of the governor - nor should she. Ms. Grasmick is one of the longest-serving superintendents in the state and the nation, and she enjoys a wide reputation for raising standards and pushing accountability.

Thanks to the governor's race, this turned out to be a week in which Marylanders were inundated with proposals to ramp up funding, in one way or another, for the state's colleges and universities. The plans to increase state support for higher education - and for needy students - are very much welcome after the deep budget cuts during Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s first two years in office. But given the realities of inflation, sharply rising enrollments (thanks to the children of the baby boomers coming of college age)

A commission appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. has come up with some interesting, though hardly new, ideas for improving education in Maryland. Asked to look at issues that affect high academic achievement, the commission has offered 30 recommendations that range from the prosaic, such as more parental and community involvement, to the provocative, such as merit pay for teachers and principals. Mr. Ehrlich has announced a meeting in November with the commission and other interested parties to continue the discussion and to further refine a legislative package that he hopes will pass muster with the General Assembly.

JOHNNY CAN'T READ. Neither can his parents, and if they are in school trying to learn to read, government is about to tell them to go home and not bother. One in five adult Marylanders reads at less than a fourth-grade level. This means they can't understand simple directions or locate an intersection on a map. Another 25 percent of the state's adults read below eighth-grade level. This means they are not yet able to prepare for General Educational Development or help their children learn to read.