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Background
Background
Every five years, the Montgomery County Board of Education re-examines the district’s strategic plan to guide the work of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The current MCPS strategic plan is in its fourth year, which means the district is beginning the work necessary to develop a Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2026-2030.
Most strategic plans focus on improving academics and operations year to year. The FY 2026-2030 strategic plan will also address systems and structures that have been barriers to improvements in recent years.
While MCPS has many successes, quantitative and qualitative data show that too many students graduate without the necessary skills for life after high school. One reason is that many structures meant to support student success were designed when students needed different skills, and the student population was less diverse. Therefore, a new strategic plan must be developed to reevaluate how the MCPS system is organized.
(click on the picture to enlarge)
Timeline
Timeline
Developing the FY 2026-2030 strategic plan will be a year-long process divided into five phases:
Phase 1
Phase 1
The Strategic Plan's planning began in August with focus groups that included students, staff, community, higher education, and business partners. The MCPS Department of Shared Accountability compiled the feedback in the Phase 1 Report.
Representatives from these organizations participated. (click on the picture to enlarge)
These are the questions they were asked. A report compiled the themes.
Phase 2
Phase 2
On November 11, 2024, over 180 students, parents, caregivers, community partners, and school-based and central office staff came together for a full-day work session to address the key issues and themes outlined in the Phase 1 Report. The participants met in seven facilitated work groups. Please watch the short video below for an overview of the work session.
Each group received research briefs before the session that provided MCPS performance data and best practices nationwide. You can find all the briefs here. Click on the areas you are most interested in.
The goal was for each work group to answer this question:
What are the systems–and the beliefs and values that uphold those systems–that must be in place for MCPS to effectively implement the best practices with consistency?
The work session was divided into three parts:
Analyzing the root causes of the issue.
Brainstorming approaches to address the root causes.
Align the approaches using the Antiracist System Audit.
Phase 3
Phase 3
The purpose of Phase 3 is to create the Goals, Objectives, and Strategies.
Goals
Goals
The Draft Goals to the right were created based on the Phase 1 and 2 Reports, the Maryland Blueprint, and the Superintendent's Entry Plan.
Objectives
Objectives
85 MCPS staff participated in a work session on January 17 to create draft objectives.
A work team was created for each of the five goals.
With the help of a facilitator, each team unpacked the Phase 2 Report and then braintormed possible objectives for that goal.
The teams had to answer the following questions for each objective:
How is this recommendation antiracist?
How does it specifically address the root causes and recommendations in the Phase 2 Report?
How does it connect to the Maryland Blueprint?
How does it address the outcomes of our student groups:
Black/African American students
Hispanic/Latino students
Emerging Multilingual Learners
Students receiving special education services
Strategies
Strategies
Five Strategy teams were organized to develop the strategies and actions. Each team included school-based and central services staff from each staff association.
Each team met for two three-hour sessions.
Additional input and refinement was done by content experts from across MCPS and through OSI MCAAP Advisory Group that includes administrators from school and central services.
A draft was sent to Dr. Thomas Taylor on March 14, 2025.
A draft was presented to the Board of Education's Strategic Plan Committee on March 25. The committee provided feedback and suggestions for revisions.
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