The Coalition has five advocacy objectives that we ask stakeholders
to embrace and work on collaboratively so that we can ensure
a quality education for Black and Brown students who attend
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). They are:

Our Asks

1. Black and Brown students must have access to effective and diverse teachers, and these teachers must be supported to succeed.

  • The quality, skills, preparedness and effectiveness of a teacher matter in enabling and inspiring a child to succeed in school and in preparing students for college or the skilled workforce. Right now, too many ineffective and underprepared teachers are disproportionately placed in schools serving greater numbers of low-income or minority students. Research shows that student learning is correlated with the skill of their teacher, as well as the resources, support and time provided to teachers to do their job. The Wallace Foundation estimates that highly effective teachers can add four months of increased learning in math and reading. (Source)

2. Black and Brown students must attend schools led by effective and diverse leaders committed to providing equitable access to opportunities and resources, and these school leaders must be supported to succeed.

  • More effective, seasoned principals who will help MCPS disrupt an embedded tradition by using their skills, experience and vision to transform schools that are poorly served and underserving most of their student body. The Wallace Foundation found that increasing principal effectiveness by even the slightest margin leads to dramatic improvements in math and reading, and effective principals have positive effects on student attendance and teacher satisfaction and retention.

3. Black and Brown students must be engaged in and supported to master rigorous coursework to ensure success in college and careers.

  • Too many Black and Brown students are deliberately discouraged from taking advanced courses and steered to less challenging classes by staff/counselors who often do so out of implicit bias. At the same time, studies have linked participation in accelerated coursework to improved academic performance, improvements in student motivation and engagement and other positive outcomes. An ERS study found that Black and Brown sixth graders who received the highest score in multiple prerequisite tests were recommended for advanced math courses at a fraction of the rate that teachers recommended white and Asian students.

4. Black, Brown and low-income students whose communities have been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic must have access to effective accelerated learning opportunities that can reverse learning loss and redress pre-existing opportunity gaps widened by the crisis.

  • All of MCPS’ 161,000 students have been challenged by the coronavirus pandemic. But MCPS data show that Black and Latino students from low-income families have been the most severely disrupted and the impact on their lives could persist for years to come. While MCPS' overall eighth-grade math learning declined to only 46.3% of students meeting “evidence of learning” benchmarks, for Black and Latino students from low-income families, only 21.8% and 15.5% respectively met the benchmarks.

5. Black, Brown and low-income students and their families need regular, proactive culturally and linguistically appropriate engagement.

  • Authentically engaging families will help overcome environmental barriers that impede student success and elevate the voices of these most impacted communities that have previously been marginalized.

Our asks are informed by Black and Brown families for whom we advocate. In fact, the first iteration was developed jointly with them, and the Coalition is continuously developing surveys, conducting research, listening to lived experiences and meeting directly with Black and Brown families. Check out our collection of data and resources.