Forty percent of Montgomery County Public Schools students enroll at the local community college within two years of leaving high school, a college official said Tuesday. “Partnerships are so important. … We have ongoing dialogues with our counterparts in MCPS on curricular alignment,” said Clarice Somersall, special assistant to the senior vice president for academic and student services at Montgomery College.

Somersall spoke on a panel with Superintendent Jerry Weast and education experts following the release of Education Week’s “Diplomas Count 2011” report, which ranked Montgomery first in the nation for graduation rates among large school districts.