Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools provides a comprehensive look at the district’s reform efforts over the last decade to increase achievement for all students while closing the achievement gap. The text is a guide designed to assist other school districts engaged in the critical work of education reform.

In addition to "Leading for Equity," Harvard University faculty and researchers have produced several case studies over the last four years that provide detailed insights about the MCPS reform journey.


Praise for the Book

  • “How do we move from islands of excellence—which exist today in virtually every school district—to systems of excellence which unfortunately today are much harder to find? Many of the answers lie in the Montgomery County story. We can hope to serve every child only by committing to whole-district transformation—and Montgomery County is one of the examples that shows us the way.”
    —Arne Duncan, former CEO, Chicago Public Schools

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Purchase the Book

The book is available for purchase from Harvard Education Press. (external site)

Forty-five percent of the royalties from sales of Leading for Equity will support scholarships through the MCPS Educational Foundation.

Pathway to College Readiness

seven keys

Seven Keys to College Readiness - MCPS has created this educational campaign to help teachers, students and families know what it takes to be prepared to be successful in college. 

Additional Resources

Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs

Office of Organizational Development

Strategic Plan

Case Studies

Differentiated Treatment at the Montgomery County Public Schools (PDF)

Describes the early thinking behind the Red Zone/Green Zone strategy and offers examples of schools that took different approaches to improving performance.

Race, Accountability and the Achievement Gap (A) (PDF)

Discusses the MCPS leadership team’s efforts to address the district’s achievement gap prior to 2005.

Race, Accountability and the Achievement Gap (B) (PDF)

Continues the story of the district’s efforts to “raise the bar and close the gap” from 2005 – 2007.

The Turn-Around at Highland Elementary School (PDF)

Follows the actions of a new leader and his team as they transform a high-poverty school from the brink of state takeover in 2004 to winner of Maryland’s Blue Ribbon Award in 2008.

These case studies are available for free download with permission of the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University. The Harvard Business School published a case on the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education and it is available for purchase. HBS will publish a case on the turnaround of Broad Acres Elementary School and it will be available later this summer.

Updated August 16, 2010| Maintained by Web Services