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MCPS says job-embedded coaching tied to literacy gains for multilingual learners; board urges wider rollout
Summary
District leaders reported that job-embedded professional learning and principal-led coaching cycles produced reported gains in literacy and English proficiency for emerging multilingual learners; board members asked for site visits, clearer implementation data and assurance coaching remains non-punitive.
Montgomery County Public Schools officials told the Strategic Planning Committee on May 13 that districtwide professional learning and school-based coaching have been linked to improvements in literacy and English-language proficiency for emerging multilingual learners.
District Director of Districtwide Professional Learning Margie Lope Moatsatsos told the committee the yearlong effort emphasized “building their knowledge and skills so they can more effectively connect content and language for our emerging multilingual learners.” She said the work included four phases of training for teachers and paraeducators and separate coaching-and-feedback training for school leaders.
The district collected 104 school data reports this year, Moatsatsos said; 83% of those reports indicated an increase on the school-selected student achievement measures and 75% reported growth toward school improvement goals. She told the committee that 74% of surveyed teachers reported that instructional feedback they received changed how they deliver instruction.
Joanne Lalick Elementary School Principal Dr. Harold Barber described how the coaching cycles were used in his building. “We have approximately 761 students of which 67 percent of our students qualify for EML services, and 87 percent of our students are Hispanic students,” Barber said. He described a teacher-coach pairing in which one kindergarten class’s DIBELS proficiency rose from 17% at the start of the year to 80% at midyear and another class improved from 41% to 50% over the same period.
Moatsatsos said the leader-focused training reached about 400 school-based leaders and emphasized increasing class visits, conducting instructional observations and giving “bite-sized” feedback tied to math and literacy instruction. She said instructional specialists from math, literacy and special education participated in the cross-office sessions and that leaders were trained to follow up with data monitoring.
Board members pressed for more clarity about implementation. Board Chair Brenda Wolf said she wanted “to see what Doctor Barber is doing” in person because the level of success described was not universal across the district. Wolf and Board Member Rita Montoya also raised concerns about inconsistent implementation; Wolf noted that 10% of teachers reported receiving no feedback on their instruction.
Board Member Ally Zimmerman asked whether coaching was perceived as support rather than observation or discipline. Moatsatsos said the district uses a clinical supervision approach: “Administrators are not involved in that particular cycle. We actually train and support our coaches, but the relationship between the coaches and the coachee or the teachers is just between those two individuals.”
Moatsatsos said the district plans to work with the Maryland State Department of Education professional learning initiative to scale the model, and that the district will continue cross-functional teams to monitor student results and support consistency across schools.
The committee did not take a formal vote. Members asked staff for follow-up information on implementation consistency, the 10% of teachers who reported no feedback, and plans for principal-to-principal peer sharing or site visits. Moatsatsos and Barber said the district will continue to collect and report baseline data from the 2024–25 school year as it develops targets for the 2026–2030 strategic plan.
