Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools. Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery CountyPublic Schools. Stacey M. Childress, Denis P. Doyle, and David A. Thomas(Harvard Education Press). This self-described "celebration" of the MontgomeryCounty Public Schools, a 140,000-student behemoth in the Washington,D.C., suburbs, is no doubt meant to add the district to the list ofsuperstar systems worthy of national attention. No longer an exclusiveenclave of affluence, the county has witnessed an influx of poor andminority students over the past quarter century. Ten years ago,Superintendent Jerry Weast divided the system into the leafy "GreenZone," which he mostly (and benignly) ignored, and the struggling"Red Zone," where he poured new resources, staff, and"capacity." Test scores in the Red Zone are up, as isparticipation in Advancement Placement courses. The authors see muchworth lauding, though one wishes for more of a critical eye. What tomake of the white-black SAT test-score gap, for instance, which isbigger than ever? And is any of this replicable, anyway? Weast'sspending spree was enabled by the housing bubble, which pushed localproperty values--and property taxes--sky high, along with a liberalpopulation willing to see its burgeoning tax revenue siphoned off tohelp needy students. For better or worse, history might show the"Leading for Equity" story to be a once-in-a-life-timeopportunity, not a model for other to emulate. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]