On May 27, 2017 legislation was enacted by the State of Maryland to establish the Maryland Education Development Collaborative. This new organization creates an opportunity to promote and enhance 21st-century learning and socioeconomic diversity in Maryland’s Public Schools and establishes an Advisory Council to provide advice on matters relating to 21st-century learning, data collection and sharing. Design leaders would participate with the diversity of disciplines on this Advisory Council. We urge the funding of this Collaborative by the Kirwan Commission. 

Since the passage of this legislation, the community of designers in Maryland has given more thought to how design education needs to be a priority in Maryland’s “STEM” based Public School Education. Without DESIGN as part of STEM education – “STEAM-Design Education” — the human elements of creativity are lost.