During the three months that Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr has been on the job, he’s spoken to lots of parents and residents as he gets to know his new district.
One thing he’s noticed: People tend to view their own issues with MCPS in parochial terms.
“People don’t understand the gestalt” of MCPS, he said during an interview this week in his office at the Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville. “Many people tend to think that what they see is that way for everyone.”
Starr said he’s got to figure out how to get people to understand more about the entirety of the school system – which is the largest in the state and the country’s 16th largest – in order “to understand the context in which I make decisions.”
Another thing: There are lots of perceptions about how schools are allotted resources. The Promethean Board – an interactive white board installed in many classrooms – is a prime example that people mention, he said.
“I listen to how people are describing what they have and don’t have,” he said. “Who gets what and why,” like the Promethean Boards, is “a symbol of perceived inequities throughout the system.”
These are just some of Starr’s take-away thoughts after a few Listen and Learn events held at MCPS schools since early September. The next session is scheduled from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Monday at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda. Another session will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville.
Starr is planning to use what he hears as well as a report prepared by his transition team to help guide his plans and vision for MCPS.
Even though the Listen and Learn events are scheduled to run through November, Starr already has identified some major issues to focus on: eliminating the variability between schools, professional development and MCPS culture.
Professional development is a huge issue, as the district continues with its curriculum reforms while budget cuts have eaten away at staff development.
Starr’s transition report noted the many initiatives underway in MCPS schools. At the Listen and Learn events, people want to know the status of those reforms, including middle reform that began several years ago, Starr said.
He noted that accountability and support are key when it comes to initiatives and reform. “If we say something, we’ve got to do it,” he said. “I’m big on that.”
That doesn’t mean he plans on micromanaging administrators. “I’m saying I’m going to be tight on where we’re going to be and tight on what we’re doing, looser on how,” he said.
But one thing is certain: MCPS has to “work very hard on overhauling professional development,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything work in public education without an enormous amount of professional development.”
And while MCPS has focused on making great strides in academic achievement, now’s the time “to step back and focus on” the processes that lead to those results and make sure systems are working. Above all, “we have to focus on teaching and learning and important teaching and learning practices,” he said.
And that will define what the authors of the transition report referred to as the “Starr brand” of leadership.
“Focusing on what is working in the classroom is critical and will be what folks can expect to see from me,” Starr said.
