Montgomery County Education Partners to Launch READY Institute

Montgomery County’s public education partners—MCPS, Montgomery College and the Universities at Shady Grove (USG)—will deepen their collective efforts to build and enhance successful pathways that lead students into college degree or training programs and to impactful careers through the creation of the new “READY Institute.” The initiative is being launched with start-up funding in the county’s Fiscal Year 2023 operating budget.

The objective for the READY (Resilient Education for All, Designed for You) will be to provide more career-building opportunities for students and to enhance the county’s efforts to develop talent pipelines to support critical workforce and economic development needs.

“The READY Institute is a bold initiative with a vision of stronger collaboration among our educational, workforce and economic development partners,” said County Councilmember Craig Rice. “I look forward to the creation of an educational ecosystem that intentionally connects education and skill development with our workforce needs. This strong partnership between The Universities at Shady Grove, Montgomery College and MCPS will enhance and support the career pathways for our most in-demand careers that include mental health, biotech, and early care and education. This is good news for our residents, employers and our economy.”

Once it is fully operational, the READY Institute will be headquartered at USG, a regional higher education center that brings degree and certificate programs from nine of Maryland’s leading public universities. Through the READY Institute, USG and its university partners will continue to collaborate with MCPS and MC on planning for pathway programs that will ultimately lead graduates to successful careers with the increased use of data informed decision-making.

“I am thrilled that this cross-sector partnership plan will address educational equity challenges and deliver a more seamless, student-centered, accessible, affordable, high-quality education that leads to high-demand careers and beyond,” said MCPS Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight.

The institute will provide:

• Data and analysis to plan for and build educational pathways that lead to great careers.
• A point of coordination for partner institutions to implement and continuously improve planning and to create successful pathways.
• Data and analysis to spearhead partner institution engagement with employers across the planning, implementation and assessment of pathway work.
• A hub where county-thought leadership on educational equity can thrive.
• Data and analysis to plan for and build cross-county career readiness work.

“MC will continue to work with our partners to open doors ever wider to create more of the teachers, nurses, engineers and cyber techs that local employers need,” said Dr. Jermaine F. Williams, Montgomery College president. “Building on our data-informed strategies by enhancing the use of economic trends analysis and jobs data will enable this partnership to deepen the homegrown talent pool, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud and quantum computing.”