Implement. Change in Education

What does it really look like to lead a school district when your own children are learning inside that same system?

Maryland's $3.8B education bet had no scorecard — so we built one.

24 districts. 43 indicators. 685+ documents. The bright spots might surprise you.

Maryland's first official Blueprint evaluation publishes in December 2026. The earliest quantitative data comes a year later. But the Governor and legislature need to make major policy and funding decisions in the 2027 session — before the evidence is in.

The Education Trust Fund (casino revenues) runs out in FY2028.

**MarylandBlueprint.com reads every district's Blueprint implementation, scores it against a consistent rubric, and surfaces the bright spots — with source citations.**

Some highlights from the May 1, 2026 analysis:

Pillar 2 — NBC Teacher Pipeline Is a Statewide Flywheel

Baltimore County grew from 4 to 122 NBCTs (2,950%). Prince George's from 7 to 157 (2,143%). Newly certified NBCTs are being deployed as cohort coaches, creating a self-reinforcing talent pipeline. P2 is the only pillar where 9 districts already Exceed.

Pillar 4 — Community Schools Are Moving Both Attendance and Academics

Carroll County's community schools posted +24.1pp ELA and +26.9pp math gains in a single year. Somerset cut chronic absenteeism by 22.6pp while designating 100% of schools as community schools.

District Bright Spots:

Built for district leaders. Essential for everyone tracking Blueprint implementation — legislators, advocates, educators, journalists, and researchers.

Register for the demo and launch on May 21st at 12noon EST: https://tidycal.com/tomdewire/blueprint-bright-spots-whats-working-across-marylands-24-districts

One of the biggest challenges I see across systems is the gap between a strong plan and real results.

In this episode of Implement Change in Education, I share an excerpt from a talk I gave at the Delaware Department of Labor’s Leadership Academy, a month-long development opportunity for promising managers of people and projects.

Through two powerful stories - one from healthcare and one from child nutrition work in Vietnam. I explore what it takes to move from strategy to execution.

I break down two different implementation challenges:

This episode focuses on making change practical. Whether you are leading literacy improvement, strengthening workforce systems, improving access to benefits, or trying to move a complex organization toward better outcomes, the same question applies:

How do we make it easier for people to do the right thing?

If you are leading change, managing teams, or trying to close the gap between planning and results, this episode is worth a listen.

Show Note Links:

With tighter budgets, what do you actually protect?

One of the clearest takeaways from my conversation with William Barnes, Superintendent of Howard County Public Schools:

“We’re not going to claim greatness until we’re great for all of our students.”

Superintendent Barnes leads one of Maryland’s most well-regarded districts, but what stood out most was his honesty about the students the system has not yet served well and his urgency around changing that.

In this episode of Implement. Change in Education, we talk about what it really looks like to implement Blueprint Pillar 4 in a high-performing district: aligning funding to student need, expanding special education supports, navigating redistricting, and treating the budget as a strategic tool for equity.

If you are thinking about resource allocation, equity, or change leadership, this one is worth a listen. 

Organizations Change Differently Than Leaders Imagine

The superintendent exhaled. "We rolled this out eight months ago. Trained everyone. Built the dashboard. And half the schools are doing something completely different."

I've heard some version of that in almost every system I've worked in. The plan was clear, the training solid, and yet what happened on the ground looked nothing like what anyone had drawn up.

There's a line from Bob Sutton, Stanford professor, that captures this perfectly:

"Organizations are flexible and imaginative, but rarely change just as any leader or group intends."

Sutton was paraphrasing James G. March, whose 1958 classic 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 laid the foundation for modern organizational theory. March's central finding? Organizations are remarkably adaptive; they absorb new people, tools, and pressures all the time. But they move according to their own logic, not according to anyone's slide deck.

Here's what this means for leaders:

The gap between your intent and organizational reality isn't failure; it's where the real work lives. This is especially true for ambitious reforms like early literacy initiatives or state-level blueprints, where the distance between plan and practice determines whether you get results or just compliance theater.

A more realistic approach:

▪️ Expect drift, not perfect alignment

▪️ Look for small, local adaptations as signals of life

▪️ Treat change as a series of experiments, not a single plan

▪️ Honor the gap between what you intend and what people experience

Questions worth asking before your next change effort:

▪️ Where is the organization already adapting in useful ways?

▪️ What do local workarounds tell us about design misalignment?

▪️ What's the minimum consistency we actually need?

▪️ How will we learn quickly from early, messy implementation?

Organizations are always changing. The question is whether you'll pay attention when it does and be wise enough to work with it.

Today I'm launching MarylandBlueprint.com — and opening it to just 25 education leaders.

In this episode, I’m joined by two Baltimore leaders advancing career readiness at scale, Brady Wheeler, Senior Program Manager for the Baltimore City Career Coach Initiative at the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, and Eric Roberts, Director of Post-Secondary Success at Baltimore City Public Schools.

Together, we dive into Maryland Blueprint Pillar 3 (college & career readiness) and what it takes to implement career coaching for students in grades 6–12, including the state’s ambitious goal that 45% of graduates will complete a registered apprenticeship or earn an industry-recognized credential by 2030–2031.

Baltimore City’s approach has scaled quickly now supporting 115 schools with 46 career coaches, reaching 73% of middle schoolers and 55% of high school students. Last year, coaches facilitated 2,000+ events and engaged 500+ employer partners to expand access to real career exploration opportunities.

Top 3 Insights: 

We close with what’s next: stronger shared systems, aligned professional learning, and better data visibility so every team member can support students more seamlessly.

Government for Good: Why Implementation Matters Now More Than Ever

I once sat in Baltimore City Hall watching Mayor O'Malley review data dashboards tracking everything from potholes to crime stats. "Show me your data," he'd demand of department heads. This wasn't political theater—it was government using evidence to serve people effectively.

As we face critical challenges in governance today, the question isn't about right vs. left politics. It's about whether we'll use evidence to lift all people, with targeted support for those who need it most.

At EdScale, we're committed to this vision in education—focusing on implementation, the critical space between plans and results. We help leaders ask: What are our priorities? What does evidence say works? How do we track progress and course correct?

The stakes are our children's futures. The choice is between evidence-based governance that serves all people or power-based governance that serves itself.