By Adam Pagnucco.
Recently, I wrote a two-part series on a literacy pilot at East Silver Spring Elementary School. The pilot showed strong results in improving reading by second, third and fourth graders at a school where a majority of students are Black or brown and receive free and reduced price meals. MCPS announced that it was expanding the pilot to more schools, but it ended the program a year later and its future is uncertain. This was unfortunate because it showed real potential to make progress on one of the school system’s toughest challenges – closing the achievement gap.
Now Council Member Natali Fani-González, whose district includes Wheaton, Glenmont and Aspen Hill, has written MCPS demanding answers. In her letter of yesterday, she describes “shameful results” on reading in several schools in her district and asks what MCPS is doing about it. She also asks for data on the pilot in schools other than East Silver Spring and writes, “…We must be willing to think outside the box and try new strategies based on the latest research.”
Fani-González’s letter is printed below.
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MEMORANDUM
To: Monifa McKnight, Superintendent
Karla Silvestre, President of the Board of Education
Members of the Board of Education
From: Councilmember Natali Fani-González
Date: May 15, 2023
Re: Improving Third Grade Reading Results
This memo is a follow-up to my comments during the Council Session on the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) FY24 operating budget on May 12, 2023.
I appreciate all the hard work the Board of Education, MCPS leadership, frontline teachers, paraeducators do on behalf of our children. As you know, I have two children in MCPS, so I am 100% committed to the success of MCPS, not only on behalf of my constituents, but also on behalf of my own children.
However, overshadowing MCPS budget for the upcoming year are the results in the classroom. I’d like to focus on third grade reading because we all know that failure to read at grade level at the end of third grade sets our kids on a path where they will not succeed, depriving them and our community of what they can achieve. The latest data presented to the Board of Education on March 28, 2023 showed that only 32% of third grade students meet the district standards for literacy, with worse outcomes for students of color coming from low-income families.
Although this is a countywide problem, I’d like to highlight several schools in District 6 with shameful results. At Arcola Elem it’s 22%, Viers Mill 34%, Glenallen 35%, Kemp Mill 13% – to name a few.
I appreciate that this is a difficult problem to solve, but what I want to know is what MCPS is going to do to improve these deplorable results. What specific interventions will MCPS be employing in the upcoming school year? How will we track the results of the interventions? What will success look like?
I’m aware of a recent literacy pilot program that MCPS had in East Silver Spring which expanded to an additional eight schools to provide more support for teachers and paraprofessionals in the classroom. I understand that the pilot showed promising early results, but I have not been able to find the results of the work on the additional eight schools, which includes Glenallan Elementary in my district. Can you please share this data with me? I further understand that MCPS will be taking a new approach with the contract this upcoming year. Can you please share the details on the scope of work for the new contract, how results will be measured, and which schools will be included in this work?
I am confident that MCPS is committed and will lead the way to get our kids to read at grade level by the end of third and fourth grade, but we must be willing to think outside the box and try new strategies based on the latest research. Indeed, New York City just announced that they are unveiling a new curriculum based on emerging research into the “science of reading.”
I am looking forward to working in partnership with you to ensure that our kids, the future economic engine of our County, are succeeding in school, starting in elementary school. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.
CC: Montgomery County Councilmembers