Like missing the proverbial forest for the trees, the recently released MCAP test scores for MCPS students were touted by some as significant progress in a school system that had experienced leadership turmoil and the aftereffects of COVID-era shutdowns.

We understand the urge to celebrate student progress and appreciate what Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor and his administration have done in their first year to rebuild trust in the system. We also recognize the administration simultaneously must plan for boundary studies and proposed program changes, deal with bomb threats and racist and antisemitic attacks, and keep one of the nation’s largest and most diverse school systems running effectively.

But let’s not ignore the big story: Montgomery County’s above-average state rating and bump in average test scores mask a persistent, pernicious challenge that precedes the pandemic—the shockingly low performance of Black and brown students in reading and especially math.

Across grades three through eight and in high school, the overall averages of African American and Hispanic students scoring proficient or higher in English Language Arts on the state test last year were 48.3% and 34.3%, respectively—up roughly two percentage points from the previous year for both groups—compared to 80.1% for white students and 79.1% for Asian students. Average scores on math were even worse—22.9% for African American students and 15.7% for Hispanic students vs. 58.5% and 63.0% for white and Asian students, with a similar two-point bump.

Our coalition’s recent advocacy has focused on improving outcomes for Black and brown students in early literacy and math, while ensuring all students learn in a safe school environment, so they can graduate and pursue their desired college and career options. In these foundational areas, the system is failing our Black and brown students. Yet the system and community seem to lack any urgency to rectify it.

Why? We believe many parents simply don’t know their children are struggling. For information about their students’ performance, most parents rely on report cards that often show A’s and B’s when their kids are failing to master grade-level content. Any information from the school or district—when it exists at all—tends to be vague, confusing and too late to be helpful, according to parents. As a result, many parents don’t know what they don’t know—let alone what they can do about it.

A few big ways to address this performance gap are ensuring we have effective teachers and leaders in every school and doubling down on proven, cost-effective interventions such as  tutoring that can be a game-changer for individual students who are struggling. But there are also other clear steps we can take to start turning things around for Black and brown students.

For example, all parents and caregivers have a right to know when their children are struggling in math or reading and be told next steps in clear and simple terms. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the state approved an early literacy policy last year that MCPS is now implementing. It requires elementary school parents to be notified in plain, understandable language when their student is performing below grade level on third grade reading assessments and that an intervention plan is developed. Also, Individual Student Reports for all students sent by the state in paper form is for the first time being made digitally available by MCPS in ParentVUE, the district’s parent portal.

We applaud MCPS for taking the first steps to create an “early warning system.” It should ensure that parents not only see each student’s plan but are also involved in how to help their child. Teachers and principals also need training to understand their responsibilities under the policy and how to engage with parents productively. And MCPS should notify and provide an action plan to the families of middle and high school students whose reading skills lag.

Similarly, under the state’s just-enacted math policy, beginning next school year, MCPS must start notifying parents if their children of kindergarten age or older are off track with numeracy skills and share the intervention plan. This is critical because if a student falls behind in learning grade-level math concepts, it becomes increasingly difficult to catch up. The same policy also requires that beginning in the 2027-28 school year, all students in grades three through seven who show they can do advanced-level work based on a mix of assessment and other data are placed into advanced-level math classes, and those who score at the highest level of proficiency on state assessments in grades three through six are automatically placed into advanced classes—rather than leaving it solely to teacher recommendations and parent requests. We urge MCPS to do everything possible to implement these new policies ahead of schedule so that today’s Black and brown students and their families can begin taking advantage of opportunities for additional help or accelerated learning.

Let’s not stop there. Given the urgency, we need to explore other, innovative ways to start helping our Black and brown students. We know there are other great ideas out there just waiting to be adopted, many grounded in the everyday experiences of families, students and educators. To this end, we are organizing a series of virtual meetings to discuss the challenges and surface solutions to share with MCPS and learn how they plan to address these challenges.

Taylor and his administration are off to a promising start, but neither boundary changes nor increased access to advanced or career-aligned programs will make a difference for Black and brown students if the vast majority are reading or performing math below grade level. We can learn from the positive examples of other districts in raising the achievement of Black and brown students and better preparing them for college and careers. There is much more we can do to help them, but it will require removing our heads from the sand, avoiding excuses, and working together to identify and implement concrete, impactful solutions.

Byron Johns and Diego Uriburu are the co-founders of the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence in Montgomery County, which represents more than 30 organizations, all advocating for MCPS’s Black and brown students to have equitable access to the resources, opportunities, and supports they need to be successful in college, career and life.