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Frederick County schools to expand professional learning communities, outline middle-school schedule options
Summary
District leaders described plans to expand Professional Learning Communities across grade bands, schedule a large Solution Tree professional-development day Sept. 21, and propose new middle-school master-schedule scenarios to lengthen instructional blocks and introduce rotating electives.
Dr. Julie Myers, the district’s senior director of secondary education, told the Instruction Committee on May 11 that Frederick County Public Schools is expanding Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) across schools and grade bands and will use data from those teams to drive instruction.
"PLCs are made up of three core pillars and four critical questions," Joanne, a PLC presenter, said in the meeting, summarizing the model’s emphasis on collaborative, data-driven instruction. "What do we want all of our students to learn? How do we know if they've learned it? What will we do if some students don't learn it? How will we extend learning for students who are already proficient?"
Why it matters: District presenters said PLCs are intended to shift practice from "teaching" to "learning," increase transparency among teachers and provide job-embedded professional development so teachers can collectively address gaps in student mastery. Staff tied the PLC work to the district vision, Ignite 2030, and to an effort to standardize grading and instructional expectations across schools.
Professional development and tracking: Myers said the district will hold a large professional-development session with the consultant Solution Tree on Sept. 21 and continue regular coaching and mentoring throughout the year. She noted that sessions by Solution Tree qualify for recertification points and that teams will log meeting participation in KickUp. "Anytime they participate in an extended learning opportunity like the professional learning...they receive points," Myers said. Presenters clarified that some job-embedded PLC meetings during the school day will accrue team-tracked points but may not qualify for formal recertification credit.
Middle-school master-schedule proposals: District staff said a primary driver for schedule change is time. Presenters told the committee the district’s core middle-school classes now average roughly 42–50 minutes and that the division has one of the shorter school days in the region. To address that, staff proposed scenarios that would create more consistent bell schedules, longer instructional blocks (including a possible 90-minute math block in lower grades), and rotating AB schedules for electives while preserving daily meeting time for yearlong credit courses such as Spanish or French.
The district emphasized that the proposals are not for immediate implementation; staff will present three scenarios to teachers and principals for feedback, adjust registration processes and provide professional development before any change is adopted. "We are not implementing this next year," Myers said; feedback from faculty and principals will inform the final decision.
What’s next: Staff said principals will meet with teachers next week to gather feedback on the three scenarios, the curriculum office will refine options based on that input, and district leaders will provide implementation timelines including registration changes and PD schedules.
