Estrada’s only guardian in the United States, her mother, is classified with the lower-income immigrant community–a group that MCPS believes to be the hardest hit by the achievement gap in academic performance. While Estrada envisions success in her future, the county worries about the academic careers of students like her.
Historically, the achievement gap has been characterized as an issue of race, due to the statistical correlation between poverty and certain minority groups. Defined as the disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students—especially groups defined by race-the achievement gap has widened over the past few years. With Montgomery County’s population rapidly increasing and becoming more racially and socioeconomically diverse, officials worry that the current gap will further widen and hurt the county’s strong academic ranking within the nation.
Attempting to redefine the issue of the achievement gap in recent months, the county has adopted new Superintendent Jack Smith’s belief that the current academic divide is caused by a disparity in the amount of resources provided to students of lower-income and higher-income households. In December, during a meeting with countywide student leaders, Smith stated that “Montgomery County should recognize the issue for what it really is: an opportunity gap.”
Smith was selected MCPS’s newest superintendent by the Board of Education last spring, following the resignation of Joshua Starr. While Starr had incited controversy through his perceived inattention to the issue of the achievement gap, Smith has seemingly made it a priority, much to the approval of the Board, to pursue more direct initiatives to lessen the “opportunity gap.”
The 2018 Montgomery County operating budget proposal recommended by Smith calls for a $62.3 million increase from the County’s previous budget for 2017. The new proposal, which amounts to a record 2.52 billion, dollar primarily aims to improve the quality of classroom education for Montgomery County students and close the opportunity gap.
Smith’s chief plan to close the current gap in academic performance comes in the form of a 10.2 million dollar budget allocation for “Strategic Accelerators,” which are, according to the new superintendent, “resources [to] help intensify efforts to close the persistent opportunity gaps and improve academic excellence for all.” Of the numerous “accelerators” that Smith plans to utilize in order to lessen the opportunity gap, many are initiatives to increase funding for ESOL programs in elementary schools and improve teacher training on cultural competence and bilingual classroom instruction. To effectively carry out these accelerators, Smith recommends hiring more full-time county employees.
While MCPS has shifted its focus to providing more opportunities to immigrant students and students coming from lower-income households, Estrada seems to be content with the amount of resources already provided to her by the county. “I think that through the opportunities Montgomery County is providing me with, I can achieve … [my] goal [of becoming a detective],” said Estrada.
Interestingly, Estrada isn’t the only student enrolled in Sherwood’s ESOL program who is content with the amount resources already provided by the county. When asked whether they felt that the county was giving them enough opportunities to achieve success in their future endeavors, junior Edwin Guevara and senior Kevin Acheampong Gonzales both stated that they were satisfied with the number of opportunities they received from the county. “Yes. I think I have to agree with that. I think the county is giving me enough good opportunities,” said Guevarra.