Historically, Clint ISD did not have a system-wide instructional framework, and staff reported the need for greater instructional rigor and coherence to close learning gaps. Having aligned curricula enables districts to compare outcomes across schools and student subgroups to identify areas for improvement as well as effective strategies to build from.

Using the state grant “levers” of strong school leadership and planning, high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), and effective instruction, NTC first conducted a comprehensive instructional audit to develop recommendations and co-design a plan for building a coherent system-wide instructional framework for the district. This included support for curriculum and HQIM adoption and professional learning and coaching training for school principals and other school leaders to guide implementation. The goal was to develop strong instructional leadership teams at each school to support teachers in using HQIM associated with district-adopted curricula.

NTC provides contextualized professional learning and instructional coaching for local curriculum. Since 2019, we have deepened our work on curriculum-based instructional coaching and professional learning through partnerships with Expeditionary Learning, Odell Education and Illustrative Mathematics 6-8.

Tennessee has undertaken a comprehensive math adoption process, which includes new math standards, a new instructional practice guide and curriculum implementation across all districts. Districts were awarded a grant for a two-year partnership to support this work.

• Year one focused on strategic planning and capacity building with school and district leaders.
• Year two focuses on supporting implementation and bringing to life each district’s vision for excellent math instruction under a statewide umbrella.

NTC supported seven districts — urban to rural — statewide with its proven relationship-driven personalized coaching approach to bring beginning, mid-career and veteran teachers through the change process. Teachers, instructional coaches, school and district leaders were able to unpack and roll out their districts’ adopted math curriculum, the TN Math Instructional Practice Guide and the TN Mathematics Instructional Focus Documents.