Office of the Superintendent of Schools

Office of the Superintendent of Schools
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Rockville, Maryland

December 2, 2003


MEMORANDUM

To: Members of the Board of Education

From: Jerry D. Weast, Superintendent of Schools

Subject: Continued Early Elementary School Performance Gains


The percentage of kindergarten students who can read a simple story with familiar content and
supportive illustrations—the text reading benchmark for this grade level—has nearly doubled in
the last three years, increasing from just 39 percent in the 2000-2001 school year to 70 percent
last year, according to new results of a longitudinal study by the Office of Shared
1Accountability. The greatest gains have been made among lower-income children in full-day
kindergarten who for the first time last year surpassed their counterparts in the half-day program
offered in more affluent communities. The achievements underscore the profound transformation
of the kindergarten program in the Montgomery County Public Schools and offer repeated
evidence that kindergarten children from all socio-economic and racial or ethnic groups—when
offered a substantive and highly specific instructional program—are able to achieve rigorous
expectations as they undergo preparation for first grade. The success is due, in large measure, to
kindergarten teachers, support staff, and elementary school principals who underwent extensive
training, implemented a greatly strengthened kindergarten ...