NTC works with regional consortia, cooperatives, service centers, foundations, and nonprofits across the country to provide professional learning and technical support to clusters of school districts, often small and rural systems, that would otherwise not have access to cost-effective, high-quality offerings.

In Kentucky, we partnered with SESC in support of 10 small rural districts participating in NTC’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant: Catalyzing Innovations in Teacher Leader Development in Rural and Urban Settings. Our project was designed to seed whole-school coaching and/or effective professional learning communities (PLC) to improve instructional effectiveness and retention for new and veteran teachers.

Leveraging the regional cooperative’s reach, relationships, and knowledge of local communities, NTC worked closely with SESC to develop its staff expertise in coaching methodologies and PLC facilitation.