Systemic Reform of Literacy Education: State and District-Level Policy Changes in Maryland. Reading Research Report No. 27.

This study examines the systemic reform process that was initiated in Maryland in 1991. The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) consists of learning outcomes, a framework for performance assessment, guidelines for school decision making, and suggestions for staff development. One year following the initiation of the MSPAP, a semistructured interview was conducted with the district-level administrators responsible for reading and language arts in the state. They were asked about their perception of the Assessment objectives and about the influence of the program on district goals and policies for instructional change. Learning outcomes were accurately perceived as requiring students to apply language to real-world problems and to construct meaning from a diversity of texts. The most frequently cited instructional innovations were the teaching of reading and language arts through subject matters of the curriculum and the use of trade books for reading instruction. The MSPAP was perceived by 24% of administrators as legitimating reforms already underway in their districts. Findings suggest that efforts toward reform should be linked to a sustained, change-oriented political process informed by actual data on the status of the reforms. (Contains 20 references and 1 table of data.) (Author/RS)