Strategic Plan 2025-2029

CCPS students complete i-Ready assessments in reading and math three times during the school year. The i-Ready program features adaptive assessments that build on student responses to provide teachers with data to best support students and instruction. Students who take i-Ready assessments include Grades 1-8 (math and reading), high school students with math Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) goals and high school students with reading IEP goals.

The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) is administered to all kindergarten students in Maryland during the first few weeks of school. The new KRA, starting in the 2025-2026 school year, includes a direct assessment of early literacy and math skills as well as an observational assessment of social and emotional development. There was no KRA administered in the 2024-2025 school year. Acadience Reading is an assessment of students in kindergarten that identifies students who are at risk for reading difficulty and determines the skills to target for instructional support. CCPS administers Acadience Reading to all kindergarten students in the fall, winter and spring.

MCAP, or Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, assessments measure a student’s mastery of content and readiness for the next grade level. MCAP assessments are administered annually in ELA, mathematics and science. Students in Grades 3-8 and Grade 10 take ELA assessments; students in Grades 3-8 and those taking Algebra I take a math MCAP. There is also an Algebra II and Geometry MCAP for middle and high school students. Students in Grades 5 and 8 also take a science MCAP.

CCPS continues to expand the Early College Program option to high school juniors and seniors. During the 2024-2025 school year, 145 students attended classes full-time at our partner college, the College of Southern Maryland (CSM). CCPS is also expanding program options for Early College Program students. CCPS will report on data for the 2025-2026 school year in June 2026.

Number of Students Enrolled

CCPS offers a variety of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs which provide high school students an opportunity to pursue a sequential, technical and academic program of study to earn marketable skills leading to either immediate employment upon graduation or enhanced college opportunities. There are several programs that can be entered through the course selection process such as Business Management, Career Research and Development, Computer Science, JROTC, ProStart: Food and Beverage Management, and Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM).

Other programs require a student to submit an application. In Grade 8, students can apply for Academy of Health Professions: Certified Clinical Medical Assistant, Automotive Technology, Biotechnology, Child Development Professions, Cisco: IT Networking, Collision Repair, Construction Design and Management, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Culinary Arts, Cyber Security, Dance, Drafting and Design, Electrical Technology, Graphic Communications, Interactive Media Productions, Theatre, Project Lead the Way (PLTW): Biomedical Science, PLTW: Engineering, or Welding.

In Grade 10, students can apply for Academy of Health Professions: Pharmacy Technician, Academy of Health Professions: Physical Rehabilitation, Automotive Technician, Barbering, CASE: Natural Resources, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), or Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute. All programs offer either industry certification and/or college credits through varying colleges and universities. Learn more at https://www.ccboe.com/departments/career-and-technical-education.

Each middle school has a full-time Career Coach who supports classroom teachers as students develop their personal career pathway portfolio using the Xello online resource. The personal career pathway portfolio follows students throughout their time in CCPS and is used to influence course selection, and decisions students make concerning their future goals. Students can access Xello through their Clever account by using their CCPS Office 365 username and password. CCPS tracks the progress of students using Xello for college and career readiness. To learn more about Xello, watch a family presentation posted at www.ccboe.com. 

The data below includes Seal of Biliteracy and HNS course information. The Seal of Biliteracy is awarded to students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. A student can receive the Seal if they demonstrate full proficiency in language learning as measured by rigorous proficiency assessments across a range of language skills. HNS courses are those that are designed for heritage and native speakers (HNS) of Spanish who already have novice oral and written language proficiency. Students taking HNS courses must complete a proficiency assessment and score within the proficiency range for the course.

* CCPS suppresses any data point that would represent 10 students or less to protect student privacy. This suppression rule aligns with data suppression guidelines used by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).

CCPS conducts action research on violations involving weapons that are outlined in the Code of Student Conduct and occur in an elementary school. The research is to better understand how current CCPS curriculum surrounding the See something, Say Something platform and process can be improved or better understood by students in prekindergarten through Grade 5.

CCPS will conduct research throughout the length of the strategic plan starting with the 2025-2026 school year. As trends are identified evolutions in curriculum will be explored and instituted with a goal of better educating all students on when and how to bring information that makes them feel unsafe to a trusted adult. CCPS will report on this research in Spring 2026.

CCPS will analyze adherence to emergency processes by evaluating responses of staff and students during emergency drills. CCPS will develop three cohorts of schools. For the 2025-2026 school year, CCPS is analyzing three middle schools and three high schools. During the 2026-2027 school year, all high schools and middle schools will be evaluated. During the 2027-2028 school year, all CCPS schools will be evaluated.

During the evaluation, random rooms are checked for compliance with CCPS “locks, lights and out of site” lockdown protocols. The data will be shared with schools and community members in November annually. Schools will also receive immediate feedback from the evaluators. The data below is from fall 2025.

Percentage of classrooms with a successful audit

Youth Engagement Advocates (YEAs) are an integral part of the CCPS multi-tiered school safety strategy. CCPS currently has 10 YEAs, with at least one serving each CCPS high school. They act as school-level first responders in times of crisis.

To ensure there is a basis of knowledge and consistency throughout the system, all YEAs will obtain 13 FEMA certificates related to emergency response and school safety, and a national level certification on school safety from the National Council of School Safety Directors (NCSSD). This training is in addition to the first aid/CPR, CPI and the Maryland Center for School Safety School Security Employee certification.

As of October 2025, three YEAs have completed all certifications, with several others in progress. CCPS will report on this data annually.

The Maryland School Survey is administered to all students in Grades 5-11, and all educators in the spring of each school year. The School Survey is a tool to ensure that the Maryland accountability system encompasses all aspects of a schools’ performance which may not be captured by traditional measurements, so that we accurately gauge success through an equity lens.

The School Survey contains four areas: Safety, Community, Environment and Relationships. The Safety Domain includes physical safety, bullying, emotional safety and substance abuse.The Environment Domain includes instructional and disciplinary environment, and physical environment. The Community Domain includes respect for diversity and participation, and engagement. The Relationship Domain includes student-student relationships and student-teacher relationships. Results are included for students and survey results are reported on the Maryland Report Card website at MdReportCard.org.

CCPS is in the process of designing additional programs and opportunities for students to more support and resources as they transition through school. Some of these opportunities may include a transitional first start to the school year, and more summer programs that help prepare students for another full year of instruction and learning. CCPS will report on this metric in Spring 2026.

Starting with the 2025-2026 school year, CCPS has expanded their data study of bullying, harassment and intimidation (BHI) reports: a pre and post survey of alleged bullying offenders. This expands on work began last school year gathering this data from alleged victims of bullying. School administrators, while actively investigating BHI reports, are also collecting and reporting the pre- and post data to the CCPS Department of Student Services. The data is gathered at the onset of an investigation, and at six weeks following the submission of the initial BHI report.

CCPS administrators addressed 170 BHI reports during the 2024-2025 school year. This data is reported to MSDE annually. A breakdown of report findings is below.

Some of the identified effective interventions provided to students involved in bullying include: check in and check out monitoring of students; increased staff supervision in areas where students gather/bullying was reported; and additional school counselor involvement.

Starting with the 2025–2026 school year, student activities and clubs will be monitored through the CCPS Student Information System (Synergy). Activity and club sponsors must submit participant lists to their school’s Synergy coordinator for data entry.

The 2025–2026 school year will serve as the baseline for data collection. Reports will be generated at the end of each semester and at the conclusion of the school year for each school. These reports will include demographic and participation data to help identify trends, measure growth, and highlight areas in need of improvement.

Following the first year of implementation, gaps and participation targets will be developed to better understand and address potential barriers to student involvement.

The charts below outline athletics participation data by gender and race. Similar data about extracurricular activities will be posted in June 2026.

In June 2025, CCPS employed a total of 561 conditional teachers, in comparison to 451 during the 2023-2024 school year. Other counties in Maryland report increased numbers in conditional teachers. As of June 2025, CCPS had 40 conditional teachers attain licensure with approximately 30 conditional teachers on track to receive their licensure by July 1, 2025. This is an increase from 2024, as 44 conditional teachers attained licensure). New Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) regulations allow a conditional teacher to attain licensure within five years, which was previously a four-year window. Special educators with conditional licenses are still required to attain licensure within three years. The regulation change reflects the increases counties in Maryland are experiencing with the hiring of conditional teachers.

Conditional Licensure Teachers

CCPS is gathering baseline data for this metric during the 2025-2026 school year. The data will include a list of positions, opportunities and programs that employees can utilize to advance in their career with CCPS. This includes opportunities for both certificated positions and support staff positions. Data will be updated in Spring 2026. 

Professional Staff / Teaching Staff Retention*

* Source: Maryland State Department of Education: Staff Publications and WDCS Cognos Reports.

**Note: Employee Attrition includes the following reasons: Death, Dropped, Leave of Absence, Other Voluntary Resignation, Retirement, Work in (education), Work in (other than education).

Ensure that all families feel welcomed, supported and valued. Ensure communication is clear, culturally responsive and easy to understand.

In Spring 2026, CCPS will design and conduct a family climate survey, using the insights gathered to inform and enhance the school improvement planning process.

Metric: Improving perceptions and experiences of engagement focusing on satisfaction, belonging, and responsiveness.

Monitoring will occur biannually and annually to track progress toward targets and report actual data from school years 2026 through 2031.

• Percentage of families reporting positive experiences in their child’s academic environment (Family Climate Survey).
• Family participation rates in school events, workshops, and conferences that promote effective two-way communication with family and community to support student needs. (Event Survey/Participation).
• Percentage ;of families who agree district and school communication is clear and culturally responsive (Family Climate Survey).

Create more inclusive and accessible ways for students, families, and community members to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives and education.

During the 2025–2026 school year, CCPS will gather baseline data to assess current school practices and determine whether families and students feel heard, and if their feedback results in meaningful action.

Metric: Number of active committees, advisory councils, and advocacy groups; percentage of families indicating opportunities to participate; and documented examples of feedback resulting in action.

Monitoring will occur biannually and annually to track progress toward targets and report actual data from school years 2026 through 2031.

• Frequency rates of accessible engagement opportunities for students, families and the community to participate in decision making (e.g., ;Family Climate Survey, event surveys, district town halls, district advisory groups).
• Percentage of families indicating opportunities to participate in decision making (Family Climate Survey).

Create more ways for families and community members to get involved in supporting students' education and success.

Throughout the 2025–2026 school year, CCPS will collect data to evaluate existing opportunities within schools and across the district for families and community members to actively support student learning.

Metric: Tracking the number and type of engagement opportunities offered. Assessing the level of participation in engagement activities.

Monitoring will occur biannually and annually to track progress toward targets and report actual data from school years 2026 through 2031.

• Number of engagement events offered per year related to student learning (FACE academy workshops, school-hosted events designed to build family understanding and support for student learning).
• Number of platforms/methods and frequency used to communicate with families and the community (e.g., email, phone calls, newsletters, social media, school apps, in-person meetings, flyers, website updates).

• Percentage of events offered in multiple languages (language interpreter requests, Family Climate Survey).