Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students will get a longer winter break and fewer half-days in the newly-approved 2023-2024 MCPS academic calendar.
The MCPS Board of Education approved next year’s academic calendar during a board business meeting Tuesday.
The 2023-2024 academic calendar featured a few changes from the 2022-2023 calendar. Notably, the number of early release days, or half-days, was cut down in the new calendar, going from eight scheduled half-days this year to only five half-days in the 2023-2024 year.
Cara Jackson, a MCPS parent, spoke at the the Board of Education’s meeting Tuesday and shared why decreasing the number of early release days is essential to student success.
”Getting students back on track requires instructional time,” Jackson said. “There’s substantial evidence that more instructional time improves student outcomes.”
Another notable change is professional development days for teachers that also feature out-of-school learning opportunities for students, like internships and other programs in the community, at no additional cost to students and their families.
MCPS Office of District Operations executive director Douglas Hollis, Jr. expressed his enthusiasm for the new program during the board meeting.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to innovate,” Hollis, Jr. said.
Additionally, MCPS students and parents will get an extra day added to their winter break. In recent years, schools would open on Jan. 2 to conclude winter break. Next academic year, however, school will only resume on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024.
Key Points of 2023-2024 Academic Calendar
- Total of 182 instructional days
- First day of school: Monday, August 28, 2023
- Last day of school: Thursday, June 13, 2024
- The 2023-2024 winter break (Dec. 25, 2023—Jan. 2, 2024) will be one day longer than this year’s winter break.
The Board of Education also approved the 2023-2024 innovative school year calendar, which applies only to Arcola Elementary School and Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School.
