001[snorts] >> Well, good evening to everyone and welcome to our work session this afternoon. Uh Dr. Young, we will now give it over to you. Thank you so much, Mr. President, members of the board. I'm excited this evening. We have um Dr. Allen, who you will have an opportunity to hear from from MGT, and also Mrs. Cindy Huffman, uh who was our program manager for the Lilly Endowment Phase Two Grant. Um at this time, I would love to turn it over to Mrs. Huffman. And then I'll turn it over to Mrs. Allen just a minute. Um good evening, members of the board, Mr. President. Cindy Cindy Huffman, uh retired in 2021 from Pike, but this is still my home. Uh filled in in the spring of 2024 for uh Dr. Huff. And then since then,
002I've been working on some grant work with the Lilly Endowment Grant and uh proud to serve as program manager of Phase Two. Um it's always a pleasure to be back here. Uh thank you for the opportunity this evening uh to for me to introduce um MGT Education Solutions. Um Dr. Leticia Allen, senior vice president, is going to give you uh more detail about MGT. Um it is a well-established organization that partners with school districts um to provide uh resources and sort of maximize outcomes that we're seeking um as a school district. Um She's also going to talk a little bit about some of the activities um that she'll be doing um with the middle schools. Um and I wanted to provide just a little bit of context about that. Uh we are approaching the end
003of year one of our phase two Lilly Grant and I have provided, uh, to you some of the highlights from that grant. I I believe Miss Pettiford did. It was on top of the PowerPoint presentation. Um, but as you may recall, this grant is targeted at the middle school and, uh, advancing student achievement and then college and career readiness. So, they are, um, activities that are preparing students for that next level. Um, I am excited to continue building on those highlights and those are the progress that we've made already. Um, and the reason that, uh, we're we're here is that we have, uh, some unused funds, um, in that grant to but they must be used to support and improve the middle schools. So, we have talked with MGT and you'll be asked to approve
004that tonight at the board meeting, um, to work with some of our middle schools, um, in that regard. So, I'm going to really turn it over to Dr. Allen and she's going to talk about that, but specifically I wanted to mention that she did meet, uh, and collaborate with the middle school principals in order to develop a plan and also in understanding that we would have a really short time frame between now and the end of the year to work with. So, uh, with that I'm going to turn it over to, uh, Dr. Allen and I'll stay here to answer any questions you have. I hope you could hear me, Dr. Allen, but we're turning it over to you. So, she's muted, I think. I was muted but I was muted. Can you all hear
005me now? Yes. >> Yes. Uh, so, thank you, Mr. Copeland. It it so great to be here to Dr. Young and to the board and the board president. I greet you with excitement to talk about NBT and also what we are proposing to do. So, NBT has been around for over 50 years. Um so, we have been doing this work for a very long time. Um our work is very much aligned and we were very concerned about our students fulfilling our expectations. Um and we like to say we are school people helping school people because NBT and our team are all prior educators. So, at the heart of what we do, um if you'll see that we do work across the spectrum, but at the heart of what we do, we're really concerned about addressing
006the needs of students and we do believe that every student has the ability to achieve at high levels. Just want to share some of our advisors. Um this is just so you know the advisors that NBT works with are individuals who are known experts um in the field of education. Um they come from high-performing education organizations, particularly in pre-K through 12. And you'll see some familiar names for sure, such as Arne Duncan, the former U.S. Secretary of Education. Um also, Fidelis Castro, who was the former governor as well as a professor at Harvard um Kennedy School. As well as Dr. Janice Jackson, and if you know, she was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Um and Andria Forrester, Mexico's Secretary of Education. Dr. Brown, who um is the CEO of TNTP. And also, we know
007how important AI is, and so we have a national AI expert, um which is Ved Sharma, as one of our advisors as well. So, that gives you just a few of them, but there are many more. Just to talk a little bit about it. Our tagline is impacting communities for good. Because we believe that when we really work with districts, it is not just for the time that NCT is working with you, um but we believe in sustainability. And how we do that, there are three areas that I just want to highlight real That's our people. People because we believe that we have to hire the best people. You do not have to have a perfect record to do that. Um People that work for NCT and that's because we believe in giving our partners
008the Um My background is education. I've been an educator um my entire career. I was a teacher, principal, district leader, superintendent of schools, and had an opportunity to be an interim um executive deputy superintendent as well. Um and so, these are the backgrounds that our people bring. But the other part of that is the people is the people that we work with. Um and we believe in relationships. And we know that if we do not build those strong relationships, then it's hard for us to make that difference. Um so, most districts that talk that you will talk to, um if you ask them about NCT, they'll say NCT is just a part of the family because we believe in getting in there and building those relationships. Our partners I talked to you about, and that's
009what we call transformation. Um and not just transformation with the schools because we know that we transform schools, we transform communities, and we can transform communities, we can transform the world. And then performance outcomes. Why do you partner [clears throat] with NCT? We're not going to get outcomes. So, real quickly, some numbers. We've impacted over 150,000 students. We've worked with over 30,000 partners. The average increase in academic scores is 17%. And then we've worked with over 1,000 schools. We also have worked with We've worked across uh um action areas that NCT focuses on. I won't go through all of them because we're here to talk today about academic transformation. NCT is known as a one-stop partner Um and that's because our clients have told us that in order for us to do a straight line
010and have that continuity across, we would love to work with an organization who offers all of these areas. And so, many of the areas that NBT offers, districts don't have to get many vendors because when they partner with us, there are a lot of different areas that we're able to provide our expertise. Um I want to state this with something our nationally recognized. However, our connection goes beyond because we believe in customizing the work that we do. If if that's that's what we desire to do, the primary focus is on academics, time, and teaching. Talk about young kids, young leaders. And so, we want to make sure that we customize it to the unique needs of the particular district that we work with. So, getting into academic transformation, there are four main areas that NBT
011has worked with in terms of our contract across the country. That's needs assessment, strategic review, school and district transformation, science of reading implementation, as well as curriculum development and implementation. We are also very proud that we that your Department of Education has acknowledged us as one of their four prioritized partners for the next generation school improvement grant. And one of the reasons why they chose us is you can see at the bottom it says, "These partners have a theory of change that prioritize rigorous analysis, partners and academics and systemic reform over a one-size-fits-all." We know that everything doesn't work for everyone. And so, that's why it's really important that we customize the work that we do. So, I want to talk a little bit about what we discussed in terms of what's before you. And
012that's our work that we will do with two of your middle schools. Again, you've had a chance to engage with principals and and had really great conversations. They identified some opportunities. I would like to go through them You have a total of what is it 40, but a big part of what we look at how to build teacher capacity. And so, we're really going to focus on what can we do what are those levers that can have a higher teacher capacity building in a short period of time. And so, both principals have identified teachers that they wanted to work with in the area of math. These teachers will receive focused coaching, private private classroom observations. Um who will give them targeted actual feedback aligned to the instructional priority. We will also follow up to support
013and monitor implementation and growth. What does that focused work look like? We will do classroom walk-throughs. We will also do trend analysis. One thing about MTC, we are a data and results driven organization. And we are focused on impact and outcomes. Um so, we will be doing that as well as providing that for you. Also, providing weekly updates with teacher terms of what was accomplished. And they will also model effective teaching. We will model those effective instructional practices, working side by side with the teachers. And also looking at those targeted instructional priorities. So, strengthening that tier one instruction, improving the delivery of it, and and then also increasing that teacher um scaffolding. You have all of these, so I will not go through them, but I think it's really important for you to see the
014work that we've done across the country. So, this is just some of the case studies that we have. Houston Independent School District in Texas, we worked with them. Ultimately, we enabled them to grow their proportion of A and B schools, graded schools. So, from 35% to 74% and they had 56 F graded schools. And we took that number down to zero in partnership with the school district. East Cleveland City Schools is another district that had been state takeover for a period of time. And so, in working with them, and we only work with them if this is going to happen this year. And so now they are three-star rated schools. They're actually in progression to a four-star rating and so this is the highest performance they've had in over 20 years. We also work in
015Hillsborough County Public Schools. Again, this is another district. It's a larger district, however, we only work with a small number of schools. And so in those schools, we looked at 100% of our intensively supported schools from low-performing schools being F schools to being B schools. We improved their state ranking from 35th all the way to 19th. So they're the highest they're the 19th highest performing district where they used to be 35th. And so you'll see I I've also shared which I will not go through all of these, but I've also shared some of those results from this particular project. So you'll be able to see how their grades increased. Where we started in 2019 by 2022, they all was were doing very well. As you can see at the time frame frame of the pandemic,
016we just did the same study with them to see how these schools are doing and they're all still doing very well. 2025 we looked at it and they're still doing those [clears throat] results. We also have another school that we're going to see if you remember you to look at as well. This school also got its highest grade they ever had in 2019. They earned a B, only their second B in school history. So this So I'm ending this uh with a overview of what we believe. So we definitely believe that every child deserves to have quality education. And so how do we do that? Well, very important teachers that are in front of students every single day. So we are honored that Dr. Johns has given us the opportunity to engage with time. We
017want to be a trusted partner with you and again, we are school people helping school people. Thank you. >> I have a question. Okay. Yeah, I think so. I thought she was going to stay on, but I'm >> she did not. And that's what I was waiting for, our next queue. Ms. Barnes, you have a question. Did she hear the answer or I think >> Yeah, she's coming back in. She didn't mean to do that. Um, can you allow her to come back in? >> [laughter] >> Are you Are you done, Ms. Barnes? Tony. Are you done? I can hear you. Were you able to call in to hear me? Yes. Okay, great. Okay. All right. >> We have one question. So, Uh, first, thank you, Dr. Allen, for your presentation. It was very, uh,
018encouraging and enlightening to see all the things that you've been able to do around the country. My question is about time. Um, I looked at the headers on your presentation. I see a year working with you, 2 years working with you. The shortest time that I noticed in your presentation was 3 months working with you. How will you adjust your programming to fit the tight time schedule that we're in for this particular I think I heard you. It's really muffled, but Oh. I believe you are asking about the short time Please speak up on that mic, please. everything you've been working with the teachers. Is that correct? Yes. Can you hear me better now? Is that better? I can I can hear you better now. Okay, so just to you're absolutely correct. So, uh, all
019the the banner titles on your slides talk about working with your organization for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years. The shortest I saw was 3 months. I'm curious, how are you going to adjust your programming with the short amount of time that you will have with our teachers here in Pike Township? Yes, it's a great question. So, our work is actually not based on necessarily time. What we've done is engaged in a conversation with Dr. Jordan and the team and talked with the principal to see what the need was and how we could get the biggest bang for the buck in the short amount of time that we will work. And so, we've identified those areas that we will focus on. And so, NBT, while we may work with some districts longer than others, we
020can see changes in schools within in a week sometimes, in 2 weeks. And when I say changes, meaning we can improve practices through a coaching cycle. So, we have an intense when we do coaching cycles in other districts. Some of the coaching cycles are most times around 1 month. So, typically not longer than a month that we will coach in cycles to see improvement in the teachers' practices. Thank you. I do have a follow-up question then. I'm curious as to the benchmarks that you have in place. I know you you spoke of a list that you have. What is it that you're looking to accomplish in these next 30 days? So, the biggest accomplishment that we would like to do is just in that amount of time, based on what the principal needs, is really
021doing that that coaching cycle for them. And And do not want to say this. We usually do a longer CNA to the conference that you will attend. So, I would suggest that it is shorter. But, the teachers will have identified what they would like to see in terms of those teachers, which is outlined in the proposal. And so, what we expect to accomplish is to meet those needs. >> Is there an incentive for you to for a certain amount of your goals to be met? I didn't hear. Can you say that again? >> Sure. Is there an incentive for meeting the goals? Like if you meet it at 100% or 75% is that something that you typically do in your contract? Yes. And if I could just piggyback on what Dr. Allen said and that
022is that it we did talk about long-term and short-term and and it doesn't preclude that we wouldn't do something in the future that was longer longevity so so to speak. So I have a question. So my understanding part of this is because we have some dollars left over from the the Lilly Grant. Is that correct? Say that. >> I'm sorry. Part of why we're entering into this is due to dollars we have left over from the Lilly Grant. >> That's correct. We have unused dollars. So, I see what the total cost is here for this contract. What are our unused dollars? How many of them are we utilizing for this? $50,000. So, we're using all of them for everything that's left for this. Okay. The one thing that I will say about the grant, it
023is a as you know a 5-year grant. So, we project what we will spend 1 year to the next year. And so, every year we regroup and we say if we didn't use all those funds, for example, in and I'll be specific in this regard, we partnered with IUI to hire tutors for our middle schools. It was more difficult to get the number of tutors that we wanted. So, that is the reason for the excess dollars in this in this pot, so to speak. So, we are arranging our spring meetings with the the partners again to talk about next year, talk about how those funds, if they're not expended in the manner that we designed, then maybe we need to think about how to redesign that. Obviously, I have to do amendments with Lilly Endowment,
024get permissions, and all of that comes with it. So, if these funds are not spent by the end of the school year, do we forfeit these this $50,000 then, or does it roll to next year? >> for this year. >> We would forfeit it. Okay. Question. Thank you, Dr. Allen, for your presentation. Um This will probably be your second or third Midwest area. Am I right? You've been in the Gary area, the Lake County area, is Is right? We were in Gary, yes. How did that work out? Well, it worked with the state. We were contracted by the state, so that worked out very well. We met all of the benchmarks that we were supposed to meet in terms of Gary. Gary was really the focus there was uh financial focus and um well, you'll
025see the numbers are um Gary was actually the state when they were really um writing high and in terms of where they were financially and at the end of the contract, uh we left them with no money or anything. So, you did not you did transformation type of work with them, apparently. That was the transformation was not the focus of that particular contract. It was really um in order for them to get out of state control. What was the academic piece that you added to that? What was the academic piece the academic piece that you added to that? You said you left so many dollars with the with the with with Gary. Uh what was the academic piece? I see where you did the finance piece, but what was the academic piece you added? So,
026the academic piece again, the focus of that particular contract with the state was uh finance. Obviously, as the finance of the district, um we actually oversaw um their particular teachers and and as far as the academics, but that was not um the focus, but they did make gains. I don't have those numbers with me, but they did make gains. Okay. So, Gary is the closest we could look at as it relates to uh what MGT offers, right? That's the closest to us, I believe, that or Knoxville, right? Cleveland. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh Dr. Allen, how are you? Can you hear me okay? I'm doing well, thank you. So, um the the the middle school is a pivotal pivotal pivotal I can't get that word
027out right. Pivotal. Thank you. Uh part of K through 12. Uh it's a transition period from elementary over to the high school. Um I'm curious. How long have you to develop the scope of work? How long have you had to look at the condition of our middle schools? Dr. Allen, can you shed some light on the time frame? Maybe we engaged about a month, maybe? >> engaged with with the middle schools. >> Yeah, maybe a month. That's like spring break. around >> Yeah. Like right around spring break. We we we yeah, we began having a conversation. >> um piggyback on that, um if I may. When I was um here in 2024 in the spring, MGT um worked I I with them. They actually uh wrote uh the next gen grant um to the IDEO
028we for us. Um I just communicated with them and the principals communicated with them. We were on calls. We did not get that grant. Um it was not any money out of our pocket, but MGT at the at the time when we got that back, it was apparent that the IDEO we was approved. The grants that were um partnered with companies that they vetted. If that makes sense. So, when Dr. Allen mentioned earlier that they were on the list of vetted um companies, that to me they took that extra step to go and make sure that happened. Um and they've been vetted by the state, so. >> Yeah, and I think it's probably back again around spring break and we kind of look at the budget and said, "Hey, we're going to have some additional
029dollars." Mhm. Um engaging the principals to figure out within the scope of what the grant is focused for, what are some areas? And then because we knew of MGT, MGT, is this an area based on what the principals are seeing that they need that you guys can come alongside us and support us. And so once we had that answer, yes, principals, here's what we need. MGT yes, then that's when we said, "Hey, let's let's try to get the something to the board." >> [snorts] >> You know, as I listen to this, it sounds good. It sounds great. It almost I'm going to use this as only as an example. Uh when you go to Costco and they got the samples out and you try the sample, next thing you know, okay, I'm ready to buy
030the whole product. This is kind of what I get from this. Uh I'm very curious to see how this program in supporting our principles which in line will help our teachers uh help us in ways that will show results in our in our test scores. Uh I'm very curious to see that. Um also I'm not I'm really not a percentage guy. I like to see numbers. Like I see the percentages that you have here. Uh but is there a way that I can see how many students how many students does like some of your percentages represent? From before you got there to what happened after you got there? Is there any way I can see that the number of students? She would have come up with the impact. >> And yeah so and you don't
031have to do it today but is that something that we can get down the line? As I can from the other school if we can see like the number of students that were impacted and how so that way I can see the number of growth in student wise instead of percentages. Sure. We can get numbers of students and in addition to that we worked in but You can also see we worked in districts that have even the one school or all the schools in one building and we worked with your your largest school districts in the country and between. So yes we can get those numbers. We've been again worked with over 100,000 students throughout the country. 150,000. Okay. Uh another question Dr. Allen. Uh I might have I don't know if you I heard
032it or not. Have you talked with any of our principals yet? Yes. She said she had. >> Okay. What how did they feel about how did they how did they feel about what you bring to the table? So they feel great. I mean they're the ones who said yes to the two schools that wanted to work with us. I met in fact when I first met on I'm sitting in the public to tell you the principal that I met he said it's great to talk with you Dr. Allen and every time I talk with you I feel inspired and something of that nature. Those aren't his exact words but he did just say and say how great >> So it sounds like you you do your best to create the best relationship with principals. Thank
033you, Dr. Allen. You're welcome. Are there any other questions? I guess one of I guess I'm and I'm not sure who can answer this question or who I should really pose it to. Why only two out of the three middle schools? >> Mhm. Yeah, so what we did was we sort of had conversation with the principals. We had Dr. Allen and her team kind of come and share. We talked about what our needs were. They talked about the services that they provided. And then at that time I said, "Hey principals, let me know if this is something you want to take advantage of. We only have so much money." And the two schools that Dr. Allen's working with are the two schools that said, "Yes, we want to take advantage of >> What schools are
034those, Dr. Those would be Lincoln and Guyton. That's correct. Will there be any more meetings between uh MGT and the principals? Yes. Coming? Oh, yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Would you be Would you be so kind to share the dates once you get those solidified, please share the dates with us, please. All those meetings. >> Shared. Uh You're saying once once >> Yeah, once the dates are set >> That the the Please share those with the board. Yes. Yes. Share schedule. Thank you. All right. Any other questions or concerns? Thank you, Dean Doctor Allen, and thank you, Mrs. Huff. Thank you, Doctor Allen. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, board, for your questions and concerns on this on this matter. Okay, I think we are now on to our exec session. Yeah, we're
035in another room. Oh, okay. All right. So, board, we will take about 5 minutes and move over to our other area for our exec [clears throat] session. Anybody need to refresh real quick? Let's do that. We'll get over to the exec session.