Guess who's scheduled as a keynote speaker on Saturday morning: Montgomery County (Md.) Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast on raising academic standards and narrowing the achievement gap.
Leading for Equity Begins with Preschool
Dr. Jerry D. Weast is superintendent of the Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest and most diverse school system in Maryland and the 16th largest district in the nation.
Learn about his ambitious comprehensive reform effort designed to raise academic standards and narrow the achievement gap — an effort that includes an investment in preschool education for both public and private providers. Hear how this effort has paid great dividends as the district’s most disadvantaged young children have demonstrated text-level reading skills comparable to those of their peers in wealthy suburbs and how your school board can play a critical role in quality preschool education in your district.
Investment in preschool education, huh? MPAC, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Someone forgot to tell you that Weast wants to shut down your program....
That's appalling. Parents need to ask Dr. Weast and the Board of Education a few things. 1) In their letters and meetings, they say they want to expand options. How does closing down one of the best programs expand options? 2) If they want to expand services, why aren't they focusing on preserving MPAC while placing additional students in their new experimental program? 3) They say on the record that students will be referred to MPAC and the new public program. How can we believe them when they said the same thing about the CAPP program? 100 percent of students were referred to the public program, even those who needed intensive services, and the private CAPP program was shut down -- ELIMINATING, not expanding, options for families. Is it any wonder parents don't trust Dr. Weast?
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