Having already scored federal cash by promising major education reforms in 2010, Maryland is trying again this year, this time with a younger group in mind.

Maryland is one of 35 states, along with Washington, D.C., to apply for some of the $500 million available for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge, which will require states to reform their education and development programs for children from birth to age 5.

Among the 10 proposed projects in Maryland’s application are 24 local early childhood councils, creating a “breakthrough” center for early childhood development that would promote successful programs in Title I schools (those with high numbers of low-income students), and establishing “early learning” academies for teachers working in pre-kindergarten through the second grade. Conforming to the Challenge’s goals, the state also says it will track data and progress related to their early childhood programs.

Last year, the state won $250 million from the federal government to reform its public school systems. That grant, also under the Race to the Top reform program, required teacher evaluations to be based more on quantifiable methods such as test scores, and focused on incentivizing top principals to turn around low-performing schools. A pilot of the controversial new teacher evaluations is under way this year in school systems in Baltimore city, and Baltimore, Charles, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and St. Mary's counties.

The state draws on last year’s successful Race to the Top application in its proposal for the Early Learning Challenge. In the executive summary of its Early Learning Challenge application, the state wrote: “If awarded, Maryland would create a seamless Birth to Grade 12 reform agenda.”

Montgomery County Public Schools was one of two systems, along with Frederick schools, that declined to endorse the state’s Race to the Top application last year — in large part because it was concerned its professional evaluation system would be scrapped.

The school system’s director of early childhood programs and services, Janine Bacquie, praised the state’s interest in the Early Learning Challenge because it could bring uniformity to the public and private early childhood programs, and track their effectiveness. It also would help low-income students in public programs and wealthier students in private child care.

“I think the Early Learning Challenge fund dollars are really going to help us refine our practices at the state level and at the local level as well,” Bacquie said. “The money is not really to go to direct services per se. But it’s going to help build the infrastructure at the state level.”

There are about 2,700 children in the pre-kindergarten program run by Montgomery County Public Schools, including about 615 in the federal Head Start program. Another 900 children are in special education pre-school programs.

Among other reforms, Bacquie said, is that Maryland will begin conducting its assessment of kindergarteners in seven learning areas twice a year, instead of just once in the fall, beginning in 2014-2015, to identify children who are not progressing.

She said she also was pleased to see “wrap around” services for younger children. For example, one of the state’s 10 projects involves family engagement programs working with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The state’s Early Learning Challenge application notes that after the state mandated access to pre-kindergarten programs for all 4-year-olds from low-income backgrounds, state spending per child enrolled in public pre-kindergarten programs increased from $3,200 in 2007 to $4,100 last year.

The federal education and health and human services department will announce the winners of the Early Learning Challenge sometime in December. The awards will range from $50 million to $100 million, depending on each state’s plan, as well as the number of children from low-income families in each state.

Maryland lists 103,000 children, from infants under age 1 to students about to enter kindergarten, as “low income,” meaning they come from households with income up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level based on the 2010 U.S. Census.

aujifusa@gazette.net