The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) released its 2024 Maryland Report Card, which measures the success of schools and identifies areas for improvement for state, district and school-level results in the state of Maryland.

MSDE included 202 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in its 2023-2024 school year performance evaluation. Of the MCPS schools evaluated, 50% obtained a 5-star or 4-star rating. This represents an increase of 1.8% over the 2022-2023 school year. The increase is due in part to a rise in the total number of schools measured from the past two school years, including the opening of Cabin Branch Elementary School in the 2023-2024 school year and the recent MSDE inclusion of six district primary schools that serve only prekindergarten through Grade 2 students. These six primary schools will not be included in the percentile ranking against other schools in the state of Maryland.

Overall performance as reported by the Maryland State Report Card for MCPS schools is disappointingly flat. Schools earning three stars or higher registered an increase of only 0.8%. Areas of student performance, such as literacy rates, remain “not met” as reported in the state data.

Beginning this school year, MCPS has made important changes to improve student performance, including:

• Implementation of a new and rigorous literacy curriculum, the Core Knowledge and Language Arts Literacy Curriculum (CKLA).
• A strategic direction of school-focused support framework implemented by new MCPS superintendent, Dr. Thomas W. Taylor.
• Continued implementation of the Chronic Absenteeism Action Plan, ensuring students are physically present in school to learn.
• Maintaining the district’s focus on physical and emotional safety for students and staff.

Maryland report card data provide a comprehensive view of school performance under the Maryland Accountability System for the 2023-2024 academic year. All schools are measured on academic achievement, progress toward English language proficiency, and school quality and student success measures. High schools are also measured on graduation rates and postsecondary readiness. Measurements for elementary and middle schools include an academic progress indicator.

Based on these performance indicators, the state gave each school a percentile rank, a total earned points percentage, and a Star rating on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.

This year’s results showed that 41% of schools across the state earned the top two ratings of four or five stars. MCPS schools exceeded the state average by 9%.  

More than 93% of MCPS schools earned three or more stars, exceeding the statewide average of 83%.

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