Case study: Montgomery County raises the academic bar and narrows gaps

Case study: Montgomery County raises the academic bar and narrows gaps

This Growth & Justice case study brief highlights the success of the suburban school district of Montgomery County, Maryland, in significantly boosting educational achievement by students of color while also raising outcomes for whites.

In a sustained and multi-faceted effort to both raise the academic bar and close gaps in learning through a variety of strategies and approaches, the Montgomery County School District has:

emphasized equality in educational outcomes instead of inputs
set high expectations
measured and monitored progress
invested in teachers, and
set higher education as the goal and mapped out benchmarks from early childhood onward for the path to college readiness.

As a result, scores on standardized tests for math and reading have increased and gaps between students of color and whites have narrowed and the impressive outcomes have garnered national attention.

download the case study (pdf)