Committee recommends publishing updated National Board scholarship rules to align with 2021 Blueprint

MSDE presented edits to regulations governing the National Board Scholarship (also called the National Board Incentive Program) and the Education Policy Committee voted to recommend permission to publish the changes to the full Maryland State Board of Education.

MSDE presenter Ms. Meadows said the amendments have four purposes: to realign state regulations with the 2021 Blueprint statute; to update language to match new National Board terminology (for example, replacing “renewal” with “maintenance of certification”); to stop duplicating National Board policy text and instead point to National Board rules; and to add provisions intended to set candidates up for success.

Key changes include revised definitions and terminology to mirror National Board usage, and eligibility requirements that will require LEAs to provide candidates access to an appropriate student population in the certificate’s age and content area before state funding is provided. For world-language candidates, MSDE will require evidence that the candidate has already taken the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) assessment for the languages currently available (Ms. Meadows said National Board currently offers Spanish and French for world languages).

On assessment retakes, Ms. Meadows noted that the new statute changes reimbursement: the law now requires MSDE to pay for one retake per assessment component (there are four components), whereas the old statute allowed only a single retake overall. On costs, MSDE told the committee the state pays National Board directly so candidates need not pay out of pocket; MSDE then recoups one-third of the cost from the candidate’s LEA.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about eligibility definitions and the program’s impact on career-ladder advancement. Ms. Meadows said roughly 350 teachers may currently be in roles for which the National Board does not offer a certificate (notably some world-language teachers), and Blueprint law provides alternate pathways (for example, master's degrees) for those teachers to advance on the career ladder.

Chair Rachel McCusker then called for a motion to recommend permission to publish the regulation package to the full board. The committee voted by raised hands; the chair recorded the committee’s recommendation to publish and indicated members present supported the recommendation.

The committee’s recommendation will be transmitted to the full State Board for consideration at an upcoming meeting.