MCPS professional learning and coaching credited with early reading gains for multilingual students

Montgomery County Public Schools officials told the strategic planning committee on May 13, 2025, that a year of job‑embedded professional learning and building‑level coaching aimed at emerging multilingual learners (EML) and students receiving special education services has produced reported changes in classroom instruction and preliminary student gains.

The update, led by Marjorie Lope Moatsatsos, director of districtwide professional learning, described a four‑phase initiative this school year that combined teacher workshops with leader coaching cycles. District staff said 74 percent of surveyed teachers reported that feedback they received changed how they deliver instruction, and that 83 percent of 104 school data reports showed increases on the measures schools used to track progress.

District leaders told the board the work combined sustained professional learning for teachers with training for school leaders to run short, focused coaching cycles. "As teachers implemented the learning, we collected feedback from various sources," Marjorie Lope Moatsatsos said, and instructional teams used reflections and performance data to monitor change. The presentation said about 400 school‑based leaders participated in the coaching sessions.

Principal Harold Barber of Joanne Lalick Elementary School described how his staff used the coaching cycle to set goals, provide targeted feedback and monitor results. Barber said Joanne Lalick enrolls about 761 students; roughly 67 percent of students qualify for EML services and about 87 percent identify as Hispanic. He told the committee his school used spring data to set goals and reported improvements on classroom DIBELS literacy checks: "At the beginning of the year, 17 percent of our kindergarten students were meeting proficiency on that particular assessment," Barber said, and cited a midyear classroom result that rose to about 80 percent proficiency after targeted coaching.

Officials emphasized that instructional leaders, not evaluators, lead the coaching cycles used in classrooms. "The cycle that we use is more of clinical supervision," Lope Moatsatsos said, adding that coaches and coachees keep their work confidential and use the district’s PGS framework for consistent language between coaches and administrators.

Board members praised the results but pressed district staff on inconsistent implementation and scaling. Chair Brenda Wolf said some schools are not yet experiencing the same gains and asked that other principals be invited to observe successful models. "I think it would be good if we could take groups over to see what Dr. Barber is doing," Wolf said.

The presentation included limits and next steps: the district said it will continue collecting student performance data, expand cross‑functional teams to support school implementation, and work with the Maryland State Department of Education professional learning initiative to scale the model across more schools. Board members recommended more school visits, clearer tracking of which teachers receive coaching, and additional detail on how coaching relates to new curriculum pacing.

No formal action was taken during the presentation; the item was an informational update ahead of the district’s June 10, 2025, board adoption schedule for the broader strategic plan.

Ending: Staff said they will continue to collect and report student outcome data and to present more implementation detail to the board in coming months.