An opportunity such as this is rare, and the past year made one thing very clear. Parents, teachers, principals, community leaders, and business executives are united in their desire to ensure that all of our schools provide a quality education for all of our students. Change is already under way. People have responded well to the call for higher standards and strategies to improve student performance, particularly in closing the achievement gap by race and ethnicity. This requires a concerted effort to redesign our curriculum, implement the best teaching practices, begin the learning process earlier for children, involve parents more, organize staff and resources in the most efficient and supportive manner, and use every piece of data available to identify problems and implement solutions.
Time is of the essence.
New students are enrolling by the thousands. Enrollment is growing in every area of Montgomery County. One of the defining characteristics of our school system will be the manner in which we respond to the increased enrollment and the changes this brings in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture. The demographic makeup of our student population is the most diverse of any school system in Maryland and is among the most varied in the United States. I want all of our schools to be the most exciting, most enriching, and most successful place for teaching and learning that our students will ever know.