Nonprofit Mississippi News: The Jackson Public Schools District has hired a California-based consulting group to help it with its school improvement efforts. Insight Education Group, which is based in Encino (Calif.), was hired by the JPS Better Together Commission to conduct a 10-month-long study of the district. The study’s findings will be made public. According to Insight’s website, the company is an “international educational consultancy company” that focuses on teacher training and turning around schools in poor performance. According to the website, the group has previously worked with several districts in the county. However, this district will be its first in Mississippi. According to Monday’s press release, the group worked with Syracuse schools, N.Y. which experienced “significant gains in student attainment.” Insight Education Group was selected as the next step in our efforts at understanding the problems facing JPS. Claiborne Barksdale is co-chair of Better Together Commission’s Study Action Table subcommittee. “We are working with citizens across the city to find a long-term solution that will benefit our students.” “This study is an essential component of this multifaceted effort move the district forward.” Insight Education Group, a Massachusetts-based District Management Group, will collaborate with Insight Education Group in order to address district-level financial, personnel and organizational efficiency issues. The 15-member Better Together Commission, which was announced in October 2017, was charged with engaging the community as well as hiring an outside entity for an evaluation of the district. Gov. Phil Bryant, Phil Jackson, and W.K. The Kellogg Foundation appointed five members of the commission. Kellogg will pay the costs of the evaluation. The commission issued a request for proposals in December for a consultant to conduct a student-centered research that results in the creation of a “community-wide vision and action plan” that will lead to equitable and successful district. Similar work was done in Battle Creek, Mich. in a separate Kellogg initiative. In May 2017, the foundation awarded $51 million to the Battle Creek Public Schools District for five years to address low academic performance due to racial inequality. The New York University Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools funded a study of the area and its community before that announcement. According to a release, the study revealed that structural bias and racial and socioeconomic segregation result in unequal access to Battle Creek opportunities, inequitable educational outcomes and limit some students’ pursuits of career and college readiness. Insight Jackson will investigate problems in the Jackson public school system. Many of these were highlighted in a 680-page Mississippi Department of Education audit of Jackson Public Schools, which prompted a potential takeover. The state did not take over the district, but the Mississippi Department of Education required that JPS officials submit a corrective plan last month. This plan outlines the steps to fix those problems. This plan will be approved or denied by the State Board of Education later in the week. Insight’s evaluation should identify and offer solutions to the district’s problems.