Beginning in 1999, the Montgomery County Public Schools embarked on an ambitious plan of systemwide reform. Why would one of the most successful and affluent school districts in the nation attempt such a large-scale undertaking? The school community came to grips with the fact that despite the district’s overall success, groups of students consistently were being left behind and their numbers were growing. As the school system increased in size and diversity, with an emerging urbanized core of poverty, it faced the prospect of becoming a district split in two—one of haves and have-nots.

The district literally transformed the way it thinks and works, indeed its very culture, as it took on the daunting task of addressing the achievement gap. All the strategic initiatives that the district was developing to “raise the bar and close the gap” converged in a key area that launched the comprehensive reform effort—early childhood education.

Learn how MCPS is narrowing the achievement gap by investing in its youngest learners. (1400K PDF)