PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS >  BROWSE

MCPS Named Gold Medal System for Ninth Year

February 9, 2004
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) was named a “gold medal” school system for the ninth consecutive year by Expansion Management magazine as a measure of the attractiveness of the school system to the business community. Gold Medal school systems this year ranked in the top 17 percent of districts evaluated by the magazine.

The annual Expansion Management review gathered data from more than 2,800 school districts around the nation with an enrollment of at least 3,500 students. MCPS and other gold medal winners were recognized as offering companies considering expansion or relocation among the best educational services nationally, including well-prepared high school graduates and excellent schools for employees to enroll their children.

The school system was one of five in the state to receive the gold medal designation this year. Calvert, Carroll, Frederick and Howard County public schools also were named gold medal school systems. Gold medal schools have an “education quotient” of 83-99 points. MCPS scored 89 points.

The education quotient by which systems are measured includes three components: the Graduate Outcome Index (graduates' scores on the SAT/ACT and graduation rates), the Resource Index (including per pupil expenditure, student-teacher ratios and teacher salaries) and the Community Index (socioeconomic factors such as level of education and family income).

The school system also was noted to be the second largest gold medal district in the nation, second in size only behind Fairfax County in Virginia.

<<Back to browse