Executive Summary

Allegany County Public Schools (ACPS) is rated "Meets" on four of the five Blueprint pillars and "Approaching" on Pillar 1 (Early Childhood Education). The strongest evidence of progress is in student outcomes and system building: third grade ELA proficiency rose from 41.3% to 54.3% between 2021-2022 and 2025-2026, grades 3-8 ELA proficiency rose from 44.3% to 52.9%, and grades 3-8 math proficiency rose from 25.5% to 32.0%.^[1] Community schools expanded from 4 to 17, and chronic absenteeism in community schools fell from 52.4% to 32.9%.^[1] All seven 2024 plan components were approved by the AIB on November 21, 2024.^[1]

In Pillar 1, publicly funded Pre-K enrollment grew from 208 in 2022-23 to 325 in 2025-26, and full-day Pre-K 4 expanded from 3 school sites in 2021 to 12 sites by 2024.^{[1] [2]} Kindergarten readiness improved from 35% to 42%, but space constraints, minimal mixed-delivery participation, and a decline in readiness for students with disabilities (from 22% to 16%) keep the pillar at "Approaching."^[1] In Pillar 2, ACPS reached the $60,000 minimum teacher salary a year ahead of the statutory deadline and secured AIB approval of its 2025 Career Ladder, yet teacher retention fell to 79.7%, 5.0 points below target, and vacancies rose to 13.6.^[1]

Priorities for the coming year include opening the Eastern Early Learning Center in SY26-27, reversing the retention decline, accelerating math growth (grades 3-8 math proficiency is 32.0%), and lowering chronic absenteeism, which remains at 33.6% districtwide.^[1] On governance, ACPS has a formal Steering Committee and pillar team structure, but only 4 of 8 programs were budgeted to meet Minimum School Funding for FY26 as of December 2025.^[1]