Maryland's Largest School District
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
From the Office of Equity and Organizational Development
The Office of Equity and Organizational Development partners with schools, departments, and leaders across MCPS to embed equity into system design, leadership practice, and instructional improvement.
Our work focuses on:
Equity is not separate from excellence—it is how excellence is achieved.
“Equity is about how we design our system, how we lead our people, and how we serve our students. This next phase of our work is about moving from intention to impact—from saying the right things to building the right structures. Every role in MCPS matters in this effort. Whether you work in a classroom, an office, a bus, or a cafeteria, you are part of the system that shapes students’ experiences and outcomes. I invite you to engage deeply, speak honestly, use data courageously, and partner with us as we build an MCPS where excellence and equity are truly inseparable.”
— Dr. Nyah Hamlett
Chief of Equity and Organizational Development
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is entering a new phase of its equity journey—one that moves beyond statements and symbolism to focus on intentional system design, clear accountability, and results that educators and student-facing staff can feel in their daily work. Unlike earlier phases that relied heavily on individual effort and awareness, this moment focuses on establishing structures, expectations, and supports that make equity sustainable and measurable.
That message came through clearly in a recent interview with Dr. Nyah Hamlett, MCPS’s Chief of Equity and Organizational Development, who returned to the district where she was once a student with a sense of both urgency and purpose.
“Equity should be embedded in all that we say and do,” she said. “In too many systems, equity becomes performative. We use the words, but we don’t operationalize the work.”
For educators across MCPS, from classrooms to counseling offices and front desks, this reframing signals a significant cultural shift. Equity is not an initiative or a specialized function of one department. It is a shared, system-level responsibility supported by clear design and leadership accountability. It is foundational to instructional excellence and leadership responsibility.
Dr. Nyah Hamlett was unequivocal about one thing: equity and excellence cannot be separated.
“If we want instructional excellence and affirming learning environments for children, we can’t separate equity from those expectations,” she said.
For teachers, this connection links equity to everyday practice, lesson design, student engagement, grading, discipline, family communication, and access to advanced coursework. In this vision, equity is not something extra. Equity is what high-quality teaching and leadership look like.
This approach aligns with a broader national shift in education, as districts embed equity into curriculum adoption, professional learning, evaluation systems, and budget decisions—moving from one-off trainings and symbolic gestures to durable systems that support consistent practice.
Dr. Hamlett acknowledged that MCPS already has important assets.
“We are constantly commended for staying the course,” she noted, pointing to MCPS’s continued investment in an equity department and long-standing public commitments to the work.
She also described a network of “hidden gems,” referring to educators and leaders across departments who already have credibility as equity leaders but are not yet being fully leveraged.
“We don’t leverage that credibility enough from a collective efficacy standpoint,” she said.
For staff who have quietly led equity work for years, this recognition matters. It also signals a shift away from isolated champions toward shared responsibility across roles and levels and toward a coordinated system-wide strategy.
At the same time, Dr. Hamlett was candid about the challenges.
“We talk a lot about equity,” she said. “But I don’t think we have a common understanding of what the system believes equity is. It’s been talked about so much that it’s been watered down.”
She pointed to several system-level gaps:
For educators, these gaps often show up as mixed messages, uneven expectations, and unclear guidance about what equity should look like in practice.
Perhaps the most significant shift Dr. Hamlett described is a move from symbolic commitment to measurable impact.
“Equity work is measured by outcomes, not effort or good intentions,” she said. “Not the words. Not how hard you’re working.”
This outcome-driven mindset reflects a growing national emphasis on using both qualitative and quantitative data to determine whether equity efforts are actually closing gaps in literacy, graduation rates, discipline, access to advanced coursework, and postsecondary readiness. Importantly, this focus on outcomes is about support—not blame—using data as a tool to strengthen practice, surface barriers, and ensure educators have what they need to succeed.
For student-facing staff, this shift could mean:
Another defining feature of MCPS’s emerging equity direction is an emphasis on truth-telling and repair, acknowledging past and present harm while building systems to prevent it from recurring.
“When we talk about restorative justice, we have to acknowledge that there has been harm that must be repaired,” Dr. Nyah Hamlett said.
This applies not only to students, but also to employees, particularly those from historically marginalized communities who have experienced harm within the system.
When asked about her legacy, Dr. Nyah Hamlett’s answer was direct.
“Equity is not an initiative. It’s not an add-on. It’s not an individual preference. It’s a core leadership responsibility.”
She described a future MCPS where equity is embedded in:
In this model, all MCPS employees are not just encouraged, but expected, to lead with equity.
For teachers and student-facing staff, this new direction is not abstract.
It points to a future where:
“The most important impact is not optics,” Dr. Nyah Hamlett said. “It’s outcomes.”
If MCPS succeeds in this shift, educators may finally see equity move from a slogan to a lived reality—one grounded in system design, shared responsibility, and accountability, and one that improves conditions for staff and outcomes for students alike.
This article is based on an interview with Dr. Nyah Hamlett, Chief of Equity and Organizational Development for Montgomery County Public Schools, and reflects emerging best practices in district equity leadership nationwide.