ANNAPOLIS, MD—The State of Maryland has announced a $20 million investment in education by funding a partnership between Arnold Ventures and the Maryland State Department of Education to scale and expand successful programs that provide students with support in math.

The initiative, Maryland Partnership for Proven Programs, will use matching funds from both parties to support selected programs that are geared towards workforce training, education, and crime prevention.

The first round of grants will be distributed to the Saga Education tutoring program and the ASSISTments online educational tool. Both programs have been shown to produce sizable gains in student math achievement, according to the state.

“These programs have a proven track record of success,” said Gov. Wes Moore in a statement. “We’ve seen the remarkable impact they have on allowing young people from all backgrounds to reach their full potential.”

The state superintendent of schools, Dr. Carey Wright, said that the investment in these programs is critical to improving educational outcomes for all students.

“High-impact tutoring is backed up by research and data when it comes to addressing the pandemic’s impact on student learning,” Wright said.

The ASSISTments program will be deployed in Baltimore County and Charles County, while Saga Education tutoring will be available in Baltimore City.

Arnold Ventures Executive Vice President of Evidence and Evaluation Justin Milner said that the funding provided by the Maryland Partnership for Proven Programs will allow for the expansion of proven programs that have the potential to improve the educational outcomes of students.

“To boost student achievement levels in math, it is critical that we employ innovative strategies to maximize the time students have to learn and practice their skills,” said Baltimore City Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sonja Brookins Santelises. “Our work with Saga will enable more high school students to focus more hours on math, particularly Algebra I, giving them greater opportunities to succeed today and in the future.”

“Sustained and continuous math achievement has been one of the most stubborn metrics to move since the pandemic for schools and school districts everywhere. This additional support coming to ASSISTments and Baltimore County schools will provide the resources needed to extend mathematics fluency to more students, and more quickly, across Baltimore County Public Schools,” said Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers. “While we are seeing positive advancement in mathematics literacy, it is important to fortify our progress with the immediate student performance feedback and online assistance that ASSISTments offers.”

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy is supporting the State of Maryland and Arnold Ventures in their effort to identify promising programmatic opportunities, implement and expand proven programs, and sustain public funding.

“Saga tutoring and ASSISTments are exceptional programs – both backed by strong evidence of sizable, sustained effects on math achievement, particularly for low-income students,” said Coalition President Jon Baron. “This initiative of Governor Moore and Arnold Ventures is incredibly exciting, as it shows how government can use rigorous evidence about ‘what works’ to make progress at scale in a highly important policy area like math education.”

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

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