Great Minds

This past weekend I had the honor and opportunity to take my local high school Science Olympiad Team to state competition at UIUC. It just made me inspect how important it is for curriculum companies and education systems needs to be able to focus on math, literacy AND science, as they all are three key intertwined elements to help our kids think critically, collaborate, communicate and use their creativity skills to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s problems.

Moving Marketing Technology into IT was one of the most important decisions we’ve made. Our work has always been systems work: integrations, data governance, automation, process design. But for a long time, we sat inside Marketing, where that kind of work is difficult to see, measure, or prioritize clearly. And over time, that takes a toll. When your work isn’t visible, it’s hard to explain what you’re carrying. When it isn’t measurable, it’s hard to prioritize it. When it isn’t well-scoped, everything feels urgent. That combination is soul-crushing. Moving into IT gave us the right operating environment: 📖 Shared language around work (Jira) 🚧 Discipline in flow (WIP limits, smaller units of work) 👓 Visibility into throughput and constraints 🎯 A system we could actually manage and improve One year later, the difference is measurable: Average cycle time: 49 days → 15.5 days Work taking 2+ months: ~50% → 2% Weekly throughput: ~3x increase 40% of items now completed in under a week This is a two-person team. We’re not finished. This morning we were already talking about what’s next — better backlog hygiene, reusable project templates, a cleaner procurement path. The system is working, which means now we can keep improving it. But it’s worth saying out loud: when the structure is wrong, the work will grind people down. When the structure is right, the work becomes visible, manageable, and improvable. Mykell Pleasant, your consistency week over week made this real. Nikki Williams , you helped us build the system, held the line on it, and then told us to brag about it. So here we are. I'm proud of us.

What happens when strong instructional leadership and systems meet high-quality instructional materials? Real results. Today we had the opportunity to host a powerful learning day at PK Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville, FL—bringing together our Success, Sales, and Marketing teams alongside district leaders from across the region. We stepped into classrooms to see Eureka Math² in action, joined PLCs, and engaged in an honest, insightful panel with teachers and leaders who are doing the work every day. We even broke bread together during a lunch & learn, because the best learning happens in community. What stood out most? PK Yonge isn’t just implementing HQIM, they’ve built the conditions that make it work. 📊 The impact speaks for itself: • +7.2% YOY growth in math proficiency at PK Yonge (compared to +2.6% statewide) • 84.2% proficiency in grades 3–5 • +30 percentage points within-year growth above the state average • 3rd grade students improved 85 percentage points—that’s 30 points above Florida That’s what alignment looks like. That’s what intentional systems + empowered educators can do. Huge appreciation to our partners at PK Yonge for opening their doors and modeling what’s possible and to our incredible Success Lead Jeremy Centeno for facilitating a day that was thoughtful, grounded, and impactful from start to finish. We left inspired and even more committed to helping districts build the conditions where students, teachers, and leaders thrive. More to come. ✨ #EurekaMath2 #SoutheastRISE #InstructionalExcellence #EducationLeadership #ProfessionalLearning

“When states focused on strong implementation, aligned supports for teachers, and consistent use of data, they strengthened the instructional core. Most systems do not have an initiative problem. They have an implementation problem.”