Executive Summary

Caroline County Public Schools (CCPS) shows a mixed but largely positive picture of Blueprint implementation. The district's strongest results are in Pillar 2, where teacher vacancies fell from 12 in 2023-2024 to 0, NBC-certified teachers rose from 0 to 14, and retention reached 73.7% against a 73.6% target.^[1] The AIB approved the district's Career Ladder with no required revisions in 2024 and 2025, and all four tiers were active as of July 1, 2025.^[2] Pillars 3 and 4 are also on track. Grades 3-8 ELA proficiency rose from 40.3% to 48.4% and math from 18.8% to 26.1% since 2021-2022,^[1] and chronic absenteeism across all schools fell from 44.1% to 28.0%.^[1] All nine CCPS schools were designated community schools in SY25-26, up from two at baseline.^[3]

Two pillars remain at the Approaching level. In Pillar 1, total Pre-K enrollment grew from 297 in 2022-2023 to 379 in 2025-2026,^[4] but private Pre-K enrollment fell to 10 three-year-olds and 10 four-year-olds, and space constraints leave Denton Elementary without a PreK-3 classroom.^[1] In Pillar 5, the AIB approved all seven 2024 plan components on November 21, 2024,^[1] but 0% of FY2025 Compensatory Education expenditures and 14% of Special Education expenditures were coded at the school level, and only 5 of 8 programs were budgeted to meet Minimum School Funding for FY2026.^[1]

Several challenges cut across pillars. Proficiency gaps for multilingual learners and students with disabilities have widened, 5th grade math proficiency fell to 22.8%, and chronic absenteeism was flat at 28.0% from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025.^[1] The expiration of ESSER and Maryland LEADS funding threatens the workforce pipelines, coaching capacity, and training supports behind many of the district's gains. The $58,000 minimum teacher salary is also $2,000 short of the $60,000 required by July 1, 2026.^[1]