Superintendent Taylor and district leaders updated the Montgomery County Board of Education on July 10 about local implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and the state’s monitoring plan.

Taylor said MCPS has aligned its new strategic plan with the blueprint’s pillars and that the district is four years into implementing the legislation. Chief Academic Officer Nikki Hazel and Janine Bakke, MCPS’s director for Blueprint implementation, described the Accountability and Implementation Board’s (AIB) upcoming review of local implementation.

Bakke said the AIB and the Maryland State Department of Education are developing a memorandum of understanding to clarify roles for guidance and monitoring, and that the AIB will meet with leadership teams from each local education agency between mid‑August and mid‑October to review progress. She said the AIB will use state‑level outcome metrics — such as ELA and math proficiency on MCAP, chronic absenteeism and teacher recruitment and retention measures — when evaluating implementation. The AIB’s confirmation that an LEA has met implementation expectations is a prerequisite for the legislature to release certain FY26 blueprint funds, Bakke said.

The presentation included sample statewide targets the AIB will use as benchmarks: increases in third‑grade ELA and in grades 3–8 proficiency on MCAP; reductions in chronic absenteeism; and workforce metrics tied to teacher diversity and retention. Bakke said additional metrics will be added as baseline data becomes available, including kindergarten readiness, career‑ladder participation for teachers, college‑and‑career readiness at graduation and access to school psychologists and social workers.

Board members asked when MCAP and Maryland Report Card data will be available. Staff said final state data typically arrive in the fall and that some items, including the Maryland Report Card, are not released until later in the year. Taylor and Bakke said MCPS will bring preliminary local measures to the board and will participate in the forthcoming AIB review.

What’s next: MCPS will prepare a leadership team for the AIB’s review, continue local monitoring tied to the strategic plan, and supply state and local data as requested. The board heard the item as information only; no vote was required.