Emily Jackson Campaign Site

Before we get anywhere near the numbers, I want to be really clear about something: I am not going to use test scores to diminish the extraordinary work happening in our schools.

Our teachers work incredibly hard. So do our students. As a parent I see it every day, including plenty of learning, growth and success that will never show up on an MCAP score.

But supporting the people doing the work doesn't mean looking away when the data tells us we need better outcomes. We can be fiercely proud of our teachers and students and relentlessly focused on getting better. Those things aren't in conflict. We owe them both.

One of the changes I've worked hard to make as Board President is creating a regular cadence of public conversations about our data: what's working, what isn't, where we're seeing progress, and where the data tells us we need to make different or additional investments. Ultimately, all of this has one purpose: improving outcomes for our students.

The honest answer to how our schools are doing is more complicated than a single ranking or percentage. There are results from this year's testing that make me incredibly proud. There are others that aren't good enough. Both things can be true.

English Language Arts: The Big Picture

In the prior 2025 reporting, 45.4% of Talbot County students tested proficient in ELA. This year (2025–26), that increased to 46.8%. That's progress, but we remain below Maryland's 51.7% proficiency rate. I won't pretend otherwise.

But the districtwide number doesn't tell the whole story.

Current ELA Proficiency (2025–26)

Units are percent of students proficient.

Grade-Level Trajectories

5th Grade

45.6%

An extraordinary jump, up 11.8 percentage points from 33.8% last year.

6th Grade

33.9%

Declined significantly from 43.7%. That's not a number I want to explain away.

8th Grade

43.1%

A solid increase of 6.4 points from 36.7% last year.

When you hear me speak in open session about needing to support our students in transition years (Pre-K/K, 6th, and 9th), this is what I'm talking about.

Spotlight: Chapel District Elementary

As the Board member representing District 4, Chapel is especially close to my heart, and its results deserve to be celebrated.

Those aren't abstract numbers. They represent children learning, growing and mastering increasingly difficult material, and educators doing extraordinary work every day.

This is exactly why I've pushed to talk about data regularly at our Board meetings. The point isn't to assign blame or just celebrate a number. When we see results like Chapel's, we ask: What's happening there? What's working? What can we learn from it, and what can we replicate?

These conversations are not happening behind closed doors. We are having them publicly at the Board table, using what the data tells us to make better decisions for kids.

Chapel ELA (Grades 3-5) · 2025–26

More than 20 points above the State.
(Chapel 4th grade ELA alone reached 71.7%, an 11.3-point increase.)

Chapel Math (Grades 3-5) · 2025–26

Climbed from 36.3% in 2022 to 51.9% today.
(A 15.6 percentage point increase.)

Units are percent of students proficient. Bar charts share a zero baseline.

Math: The Challenge & The Trajectory

This year, 20.7% of Talbot students reached proficiency in math. By itself, 20.7% sounds alarming.

But the comparable proficiency rate for the entire state of Maryland is 27.1%. MSDE describes mathematics achievement as an area where Maryland still has "a long way to go."

That does not make 20.7% good enough. We're below the state average, and closing that gap needs to remain a priority. But it matters when talking honestly about what the number means: the comparable statewide figure is about 27%, not 80% or 90%. This is a serious challenge in Talbot County, and it is a serious challenge across Maryland.

There's another important part of the math story: we are improving.

District Math Proficiency Trend

Increased every single year since 2022.

20.7%

2026

Y-axis domain starts at 0% so gains are not visually exaggerated.

That's a 5.3 percentage-point increase since 2022. And this year alone, Talbot improved 1.8 points, while Maryland improved 0.6 points.

That's progress worth recognizing. It isn't progress worth being satisfied with. We are a small, rural school system. Maryland as a whole continues to struggle with math achievement. Small districts can experience significant year-to-year swings. Those things help us understand the numbers, but none of them changes our responsibility to help more Talbot County children reach proficiency. Context matters, but context cannot become an excuse.

The Honest Conversation

I don't believe MCAP tells us everything about a child, a teacher, a school, or a school system. There are important things happening in our schools that will never appear in an MCAP score. But MCAP does tell us something important. We shouldn't dismiss it when we don't like the results any more than we should overstate it when the results are good.

That's why I don't think the honest description of Talbot County Public Schools is either "our schools are failing" or "everything is great." Neither is true.

The truth is that we remain below the Maryland average in both ELA (by 4.9 percentage points) and math (by 6.4 points). The goal isn't to explain away the gap. It's to close it.

That's why I care so much about bringing this data into our public Board meetings. The numbers should lead to questions. The questions should lead to action. And our investments should be driven by evidence about what our students actually need.

I see teachers changing instruction when a child isn't getting it, celebrating breakthroughs that will never appear on a spreadsheet, and showing up the next morning to do it all over again. I see students working hard, too. We can be enormously proud of them and still expect better academic outcomes—in fact, we owe them both.

Celebrate the progress. Confront the problems. Follow the data. Support the people doing the work. Invest in what works. And keep getting better.

Let's speak openly and honestly about our scores.