Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) announced the incorporation of a newer version of their comprehensive plan, called the MCPS Strategic Plan, that would transform schools yearly throughout the county over the next five years..
Each school in the county makes its own plan, referencing what it personally needs to improve on based on the Maryland report card and the county’s input. The school improvement plan focuses on providing ways to track progress while improving instruction with more student reflection, collaboration, and growth. At the end of the day, its goal is to make sure every student is successful.
One of the county’s main goals involves literacy and mathematics. The latest trends in the county show multiple issues regarding students’ literacy rates and mathematical abilities. Currently, only 54% of the students are proficient in reading and 45% in math, per Montgomery Perspective. To dive further in, regarding high schools, 61% were proficient in reading, but only five percent were proficient in Algebra one. When looking at factors of race and economic status, there are even further negative deviations in regard to math and literacy.
“This is the exact purpose of each school improvement plan,” MCPS Public Information Officer Liliana Lopez said. “Schools identify the learning and achievement gaps within their own students and create a plan so that they can identify where the gaps are and what actions are needed to close those gaps.”
MCPS and WJ have different ways of tracking progress in these categories. For academics, it’s through MAP-M/MAP-R scores, common writing assessments, summative assessments, MCAP and district assessments. Concerning school quality and climate, schools would keep track of chronic absenteeism data, involve more study circles in the school year and implement more student voice surveys.
The school allocates dedicated time to review the scores and data coming from all these assessments to determine its adherence to the school improvement plan. Then reports are presented to the teachers and incorporated into their curriculum.
As a staff development teacher, Leigh Ann Uzamere works with staff to develop their curriculum in accordance with the plan.
“Specifically for teachers, Ms. Uzamere is their biggest support,” Assistant Principal Brent Imamura said. “We have monthly professional development meetings that all teachers attend and she leads those. And as new topics and strategies are heard, teachers will want support with incorporating the changes into their teaching. Students can receive support from the teachers, so we want to help teachers be their best selves so they can make students the best versions of themselves.”
Changes are also being made in the area of graduation and English with ESOL students. The school puts the focus on each specific student from the data that it gets, proposing elements like special schedules and notices sent out to make sure everyone is on track.
“One of our areas where we have grown is in English language proficiency,” Uzamere said. “The department that supports students in ESOL works very hard to connect with all of the students to make sure that they have a schedule that is aligned with their language learning goals and based on their prior experiences. Each schedule is really handcrafted to meet the needs of each student. And so we see that the test that measures English proficiency, WIDA, shows students improving as a group.”
The changes from the improvement plan are already being implemented to ease life at WJ. From using new educational techniques to adjusting student schedules and conducting more close knit student-staff meetings, there is a direct effect on students’ daily experiences. With the plan, every student can clearly analyze the steps taken by the school and advocate for additional measures that will allow them to achieve greater heights in their education.
