ROCKVILLE, MD—The opening of five new schools, full-day kindergarten for all students and two new magnet programs at Poolesville High School highlight the start of school this year for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). A fleet of 1,265 buses rolled out on August 28, carrying more than 96,000 of the school system’s 139,000-plus students to their first day of school.

Clarksburg High School is the first new high school to open in Montgomery County since 1998. Clarksburg’s whole-school signature program, Capstone Project through Integrated Technology, will infuse technology standards and skills throughout all grades. Students in the Advanced Placement (AP) Power Scholars program will complete six AP courses and exams during their four years at the school and will benefit from the opportunity to earn college credit. Ninth grade teams will plan and implement instruction that meets the needs of students and will provide direct monitoring of student progress.

The addition of Clarksburg High School and four new elementary schools brings the total number of MCPS schools to 199—129 elementary, 38 middle, 25 high and seven special schools.

The new Great Seneca Creek Elementary School is the first K-12 public school in Maryland to be registered as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) school. Little Bennett Elementary School, which will serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade (K-4 this year), also is a Green School, similar in many ways to Great Seneca Creek. Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School is part of the Northeast Consortium, serving prekindergarten through second grade students. Sargent Shriver Elementary School is a Title I school in the Wheaton Cluster serving students in kindergarten through fifth grade (K-4 this year).

Following a summer of training programs for teachers and staff, and a range of programs for students, schools will open their doors with more than 11,000 teachers—about 1,000 of them new to MCPS. The new teachers were introduced to MCPS during New Educator Orientation, held the week of Aug. 10-17.

Full-day kindergarten has been expanded this year to all 123 MCPS elementary schools with a kindergarten program—one year ahead of the state-mandated schedule. Full-day kindergarten is being added this year to 30 schools: Belmont, Bethesda, Beverly Farms, Bradley Hills, Burtonsville, Carderock Springs, Cashell, Cedar Grove, Clarksburg, College Gardens, Cold Spring, Darnestown, DuFief, Fallsmead, Farmland, Great Seneca Creek, Jones Lane, Lakewood, Little Bennett, Luxmanor, Spark M. Matsunaga, Roscoe R. Nix, Potomac, Sargent Shriver, Seven Locks, Somerset, Westbrook, Wood Acres, Woodfield and Wyngate.

Poolesville High School opens the school year with two new magnet programs: the Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Program and the Humanities Program. For the 2006–2007 school year, the programs will serve both local and out-of-area ninth grade students. Poolesville also is home to the Global Ecology Studies Program and an advanced engineering program.

International Baccalaureate (IB) programs also are expanding at both the high school and middle school levels. About 80 Rockville High School ninth graders are entering the first year of a new pre-IB program. The school is participating in the IB application process, expected to be finished before current participants enter the program in the 11th grade. Francis Scott Key Middle School is implementing the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme in the sixth grade this school year, on a trial basis as a candidate school.

Rockville joins Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Albert Einstein, Springbrook and Watkins Mill high schools in offering IB programs that serve their local areas. Richard Montgomery High School offers a competitive countywide IB program. Middle Years IB programs are available for students at Julius West and Westland middle schools, and College Gardens Elementary School is a candidate for a Primary Years IB program.

Middle schools are an important area of focus for the school system this year. Last year, three new Middle School Magnet Consortium schools—Argyle, A. Mario Loiederman and Parkland—provided new opportunities for middle school students in the arts, information technology, and math and science. This year, 13 new courses are being piloted at the three schools. About 35 other pilot courses are being offered in high school signature, academy, magnet and elective programs.

As part of overall middle school reform efforts, MCPS conducted a comprehensive review of middle schools in 2005 to gain greater understanding of areas that needed improvement in order to help every student achieve at the highest levels. Findings from the review were used to identify key reform components. A comprehensive plan detailing recommendations for middle school reform will be available for review and feedback in early fall.

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