"As we work to protect and improve Maryland’s # 1 ranked public school system, I want to urge all of our teachers and educators to participate in Maryland’s first statewide teacher survey. Through the TELL Maryland Survey, Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning, our teachers will be able to provide anonymous firsthand feedback about how we continue to improve public education in Maryland." - Governor Martin O'Malley Click here to view the survey results.

Improving Teaching and Learning for All Students

TELL us about your school. Governor Martin O’Malley wants to ensure that all Maryland educators have the supportive environment necessary to help students achieve at the highest levels. The TELL Maryland Survey is a perceptual survey that will allow every educator to TELL Maryland if they have positive teaching and learning conditions that research has shown to be important to student achievement and teacher retention.

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This survey was initiated by Governor O’Malley, and supported by the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals, the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals, the Maryland State Board of Education, Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland State Education Association, the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, and the American Federation of Teachers Maryland.

The TELL Maryland Survey captures anonymously the perceptions of all school-based certificated educators about these conditions. By documenting and analyzing how educators view critical teaching and learning conditions, this initiative focuses on providing each Maryland school with its own data that can become a part of the on-going improvement planning processes in our buildings, in our counties, and at the state level.  

Viewing and Using the Survey Results

Results of the TELL Maryland Survey are now available. Anyone can view statewide results for the main survey by clicking on the Maryland link or view the principal-only survey results (.pdf). School and district results are passcode-protected to allow for the opportunity to access, discuss, understand and create strategies to address these conditions in a safe space. Each system received passcodes and will be sending them out to schools so they can see their system and/or school results and begin their conversations. The coalition partners plan on providing tools and assistance to schools on understanding and utilizing the survey results. We also believe that the broader community is essential to improving teaching conditions and should know what educators say about these critical aspects of education. The data WILL be available in Fall 2009/Winter 2010 when more analyses can be conducted, linkages to student achievement and teacher retention can be assessed, and we can tell the public more definitively what we know about these conditions and which ones seem to make the most difference.

TELL Maryland Survey partners believe the results will help place educators’ experiences and perceptions at the center of school, district, and state efforts to improve Maryland education.  

A host of stakeholder groups representing teachers, superintendents, community and business (listed on left side of this page), are collectively working with the New Teacher Center (NTC) to conduct the survey.  NTC is a nonpartisan group with a mission to support the development of an effective, dedicated and inspired teaching force.  NTC also has vast experience conducting similar surveys across the country.