“This new advisory council will help us take the recommendations of M-PAC to the next level,” commented Dr. Grasmick. “Some of the members were involved in the M-PAC process, while we’ve brought in new members for a fresh perspective, including those who represent key groups who M-PAC felt needed to take part in the ‘shared responsibility’ of family involvement in schools.”

The Superintendent’s Council includes parents, members of the State Board of Education, local boards of education, local superintendents, local school system staff, family involvement organizations, principals, students, community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, the Maryland State Teachers Association, Maryland PTA, faith-based organizations, the business community, community organizations, and health-based organizations. (See attached membership list).

In addition to the establishment of the Superintendent’s Council, MSDE also reported on where the Department is on addressing the recommendations as they relate to the five broad categories the recommendations fall under, including leadership, accountability, training, partnership, and communication. MSDE has already implemented one of the key recommendations under leadership, which is the creation of an infrastructure within MSDE to help support family involvement statewide. Two staff positions are now devoted to family involvement issues and programs. These positions fall within the newly-named Division of Student, Family, and School Support. This division was previously called the Division of Student and School Services.

It was renamed so that the importance with which the Department takes family involvement is clear to all staff and the public served and to show that the clear link between the student and the school is the family.

For the first time, MSDE has also established a high-level, internal team with representation from all divisions, to work on the action plan for implementation of recommendations. The team has been meeting for three months and has begun the following work:

 • First steps in the regulatory process to adopt the 2001 
    Family Involvement Resolution of the State Board of
    Education into the Code of Maryland Regulations
 • Creating partnership with Towson University on a pilot
    program to track the effectiveness of family studies
    courses in teacher education on family involvement in
    schools
 • Developing a survey instrument to see how local school
   systems currently provide professional
   development/training related to enhanced family
   involvement
 • Seeking funding/grants for the development of mini-
   training modules for parents, teachers, and
   administrators
 • Researching partnerships with faith-based organizations
 • Creating and evaluating database of parent 
   representation on state and local school system
   education committees and task forces
 • Evaluating MSDE Web site for parent-friendliness and
   usefulness before implementing a re-design
 • Assessing how parent-friendly Department publications
   are and their availability in multiple foreign languages
 • Developing a family involvement tool kit

The State Board unanimously accepted the group’s report, “A Shared Responsibility,” in August of 2005 and asked the Department to outline an implementation plan at that time. MSDE will provide the State Board with periodic updates on progress.