Sep 5, 2017
The Maryland Education Development Collaborative became a part of the Maryland Constitution on May 27, 2017. And this summer, MarylandbyDesign working group members will participate in discussions with lawmakers about the issue of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan releasing funding to begin the operation of the commission.
According to a summary of the legislation, the collaborative would include “activities to promote and enhance 21st century learning and socioeconomic diversity in the state’s public schools; providing that the collaborative is an instrumentality of the state; establishing a Governing Board of the collaborative; requiring the Board to establish an Advisory Council to provide advice on matters relating to 21st century learning, data collection and sharing, and other specified issues; etc.”
“Among the many education related topics discussed by legislators, innovation in public education has been an important one,” says Stephanie Yoffee of MarylandbyDesign. “Innovation is typically associated with growth in industry and research has proven that design is consistently the source of innovation in any organizational system.” Read more here.
Design driven innovation in education is one of the aims of the Maryland Education Development Collaborative. Senate Bill 908: Maryland Education Development Collaborative-Established received a unanimous vote on March 16, 2017 in the Maryland Senate. It was passed on April 5 by the Maryland House of Delegates Ways and Means Subcommittee and by the full House on Sat., April 8. That version was passed by the Senate on April 10 and sent to Gov. Hogan for his signature.
Several members of the MarylandByDesign Working Group submitted testimony in support of the collaborative, explaining how design education and STEAM programming in public schools would be one of the key factors in innovating public school education in Maryland.
For example, in 2014, the Rhode Island Department of Education used an Ambassador Design Team to develop a strategic plan for elementary and secondary education to advance learning and achievement for all Rhode Island public school students. The Ambassador Design Team used design thinking as a way to develop the strategic plan.
MarylandByDesign’s Working Group would be one of the many participants working together in the Maryland Education Development Collaborative. MarylandbyDesign can contribute a design-driven innovation approach for making recommendations to innovate public schools by developing an implementation plan for design education and STEAM programming to make design part of every child’s educational experience. This is only one of the many aspects of the design policy of MarylandByDesign, with its overall mission to define design in all of its manifestations in Maryland.