Superintendent Thomas Taylor wants every classroom in Montgomery County teaching the same lesson on the same day. A 94-page booklet spells out how.

The directive, called "Lead with Intention," lays out day-by-day curriculum expectations for all Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) locations, including Churchill and Wootton cluster schools that serve Potomac families. District leaders published the booklet this year and distributed it to administrators, The Banner reported Sunday, Sept. 20.

Taylor, entering his third year leading Maryland's largest school district, carried his copy from class to class during a recent visit to Poolesville-area schools. At John Poole Middle School on the seventh day of classes, he watched a sixth-grade teacher walk students through formulas for the area of a parallelogram. It matched what the booklet prescribed for that day.

"The biggest shift is not everybody gets to do whatever the hell they want to do," Taylor told The Banner.

Union raises concerns

Not everyone is on board. Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) President David Stein said teachers have at times felt micromanaged by the administration. The union is working with district officials to protect classroom autonomy.

"It's tough when you get top-down directives when you have thousands of different classrooms with thousands of different needs," Stein told The Banner.

Chief of Schools Peter Moran acknowledged the friction but called it "growing pains." He said he has been encouraged to see administrators referring to the booklet in their daily work.

District ranks sixth in math statewide

MCPS ranks sixth out of 24 Maryland districts in math and seventh in English on state assessments, according to The Banner. Taylor has said he wants the district at No. 1.

The district's nearly 153,000 students showed slight progress in reading and math on the 2026 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP). Results released July 28 showed MCPS continuing to score above statewide averages.

Taylor previewed the push on the first day of school, Aug. 25. "This is the year of being intentional in MCPS about how we manage distractions like cell phones," he said at the time, according to Bethesda Magazine. He called literacy a civil right and said the year would bring "intense focus on what's happening in the classroom."

Budget, safety pressures mount

The instructional focus comes as Taylor navigates a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog that has contributed to campus flooding and mold, two campus shootings within three months and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the district in a lawsuit over storybooks. Shrinking enrollment led to the elimination of hundreds of positions. As we reported Sept. 17, the district cut 46 positions and shifted 49 others to shorter contracts.

Year three also brings a pending elementary school boundary study and the possibility of additional deep budget cuts.

At John Poole Middle School, Taylor noted one campus chiller was running at 30% capacity, causing temperature spikes in classrooms. He called the building's shifting conditions "microclimates."