Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs (OCIP)

MCPS is considering adoption of a new elementary English Language Arts Curriculum for the 2023-2024 school year. Additional information may be found here.

Don’t miss an opportunity to join MCPS curriculum leaders to learn more about MCPS curriculum during live virtual presentations on November 2nd.

Sessions will focus on topics such as literacy, mathematics, and academic excellence for all students. There will also be a focus on teaching and learning, and ensuring all students have equitable access to readiness for college, career and community.

All sessions are virtual and access to all presentations will be posted to this webpage.

Registration is not required to participate and all Zoom links are included in the agenda button below.

View Curriculum Night Agenda November 2022

In support of building student literacy skills at the secondary level, MCPS is launching a Literacy Across the Content Areas (LACA) initiative beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. Research shows that when students have more opportunities to read and literacy is embedded across content areas, reading comprehension, conceptual knowledge and motivation improve. This shift will be supported with professional development for teachers and teacher leaders across content areas.

This work builds upon previous literacy efforts that included summer literacy conferences for school instructional leadership teams and the implementation of Core Literacy Practices in middle and high schools. A focus on use of a common language, development of planning tools and elevation of academic language to support Emerging Multilingual Learners (EMLs) developed students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

The Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs (OCIP) will lead the renewed effort. Schools will be encouraged to consider a focus on literacy as a way to improve student outcomes by teaching critical skills. Schools will have flexibility in choosing when, where and how to elevate students’ literacy needs and to determine what support staff will need for effective instruction.

Professional development for middle and high school content specialists and resource teachers will begin this summer with self-assessment and reflection on the literacy needs within their content area. Professional learning opportunities throughout the school year will focus on supporting instructional leaders. Professional learning for teachers will be offered during the summer of 2023.

The window for MAP administration has been extended to June 10, 2022.

In response to gaps in elementary literacy skills, MCPS is launching a shift to structured literacy beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. This shift will be supported with new instructional materials, widespread professional development and support to schools, and a new literacy assessment for Kindergarten through Grade 2.

Structured literacy centers on the systematic and cumulative teaching of the five components of reading—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension as well as writing. This shift is supported by research on improving how MCPS teaches reading and writing. Instruction will be differentiated for individual student needs.

In Kindergarten through Grade 2, the Measures of Academic Progress–Reading Fluency (MAP–RF) assessment will be replaced by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment. This change will provide teachers with reliable, predictive information about student progress on specific skills that allow for targeted instruction.

Training on the structured literacy approach and the DIBELS assessment for teachers, school-based reading specialists and administrators began during the 2021-2022 school year, and will continue this summer and throughout the 2022-2023 school year.

Twelve MCPS elementary schools will be piloting the Benchmark Advance English Language Arts curriculum during the 2022-2023 school year. The district originally adopted the curriculum in 2018, but Benchmark has since revised it.

Criteria considered in the selection of the 12 included student body demographics, geographic location, specialized programming, principal and staff commitment and socio-economic indicators. While most schools elected to pilot the curriculum in all grade levels (K-5), a few are piloting in select grades.

Staff at the following 12 elementary schools will receive training this summer and begin offering the curriculum in the fall:

1. Ritchie Park (K-5)
2. Burnt Mills (K-5 Spanish Immersion Program only)
3. Candlewood (K-5)
4. JoAnn Leleck at Broad Acres (K-5)
5. Captain James E. Daly Jr. (K-5)
6. Rock Creek Forest (3-5) and (Spanish Immersion Program) (K-5)
7. Washington Grove (K-5)
8. Gaithersburg #8 (K-5)
9. Brown Station (K-2)
10. Woodfield ES (3-5)
11. Rosemary Hills (K- 2)
12. Oak View (3-5)

The Board of Education has hired an external evaluator to engage stakeholders and conduct research into current MCPS practices. The goal is to improve student engagement and achievement of Emergent Multilingual Learners (EML) students in English language development programs, and Hispanic students in programs across the system.

These programs include English Language Development, Two-Way Immersion, Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education, the Career Readiness Education Academy, and other innovative language programs at the school level.

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), a D.C.-based non-profit organization, will conduct the evaluations. Along with a review of documents and classroom visits, CAL’s work will conduct focus groups with staff, students and families. A survey to solicit feedback is also planned for June.!

To address the needs of academically gifted and advanced students, MCPS will expand the Enriched Literacy Curriculum (ELC) to additional schools in the 2022–2023 school year. Based on factors including demographic, socioeconomic, and regional diversity, numbers of students surfaced in universal review, school readiness, and other conditions that lead to successful implementation, MCPS has selected 20 schools for implementation in the 2022-23 school year. These schools represent a range of diversity in demographics, FARMS rates, school type and region of the county. ELC expansion will continue in the 2023–2024 school year.

See OCIP in action, collaborating with schools and offices to support literacy and math instruction, tutoring, and Emergent Multilingual Learners and Newcomers. View Videos

Beginning on January 25, 2022, all students will have access to free tutoring and 24/7 Homework Help to support success in their current courses/grade level, through two new approved tutoring providers, FEV Tutor and Tutor Me Education. As part of comprehensive strategies to mitigate learning disruption associated with the pandemic, all students will have access to these virtual tutoring services through their MCPS Google Account, using Clever.  Some students will also be referred directly by their local school.  For more information about how to access tutoring services, please visit MCPS Tutoring and Interventions.

MCPS adopted four new curricula in literacy and mathematics for elementary and middle school students in 2019.  As we enter the third year of implementation, the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs (OCIP) will begin evaluating the effectiveness of the curricular resources.  The evaluation will take place beginning with Benchmark Advance, the elementary literacy curriculum, from winter 2021-2022 through winter 2022-2023.  The evaluation will study the content, diversity and quality of resources, implementation, student performance, and school and community feedback.  Learn more about the evaluation process and timeline here.