Dayton City Work Session: DPS Presentation on Ford NGL Academies – March 5, 2026
Dayton City Work Session: DPS Presentation on Ford Next Generation Learning Academies – March 5, 2026
Dayton Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Dr. Lawrence and his team presented the district's transformation plan under the Ford Next Generation Learning (NGL) initiative to city commissioners and officials. The presentation highlighted progress toward wall-to-wall career academies, improved graduation rates, expanded access to Advanced Placement (AP) and college credit courses, and strong community partnerships. City leaders expressed unanimous support and offered to assist in implementation.
Presentation Highlights
- DPS aims for 100% of students to earn credentials and be college/career ready one year after graduation.
- Data showed higher engagement and achievement in schools with career-tech pathways; Meadowdale's graduation rate rose from 55% to 67% after adding pathways.
- Only one high school offered AP courses before 2022; now all high schools offer AP, honors, and College Credit Plus. In 2023-24, 41% of students participated in work-based learning; 60% so far in 2024-25.
- DPS contracted with Ford NGL after seeing Akron's success (all high schools have pathways, all schools above 90% graduation rate).
- A community-developed “Portrait of a Graduate” identifies essential skills (work ethic, integrity, etc.) taught pre-K–12.
- DPS moved from a 3-star to a 4.5-star district rating on the Ohio report card.
- Curriculum audit (ABLE) recommended stronger academic core, expanded pathways, and dual credit opportunities.
Discussion and Commissioner Comments
- Commissioner Schumer called the presentation “impressive” and noted the connectivity across business and community. He offered to be an advocate and stated this changes the narrative about DPS.
- Commissioner Shaw asked how DPS tracks graduates long-term. Dr. Lawrence responded that the Lumina Foundation tracks graduates six years out, and the Ford NGL model requires an annual steering committee report with metrics.
- Commissioner (unnamed) praised the public safety and water department pathways already in place and offered continued help.
- Mayor (presumed) expressed enthusiasm, noting the W.S. McIntosh scholarship program and the importance of preparing students for professional environments.
- Dr. Lawrence and Ms. Minor thanked the city for past support and asked partners to “advocate, advise, and assist.”
- Aaron (Chief of College and Career Readiness) noted that a partnership handbook is being created to sustain collaboration.
Key Outcomes
- City officials expressed unanimous support for the DPS transformation and committed to ongoing partnership.
- DPS will establish a steering committee of regional leaders to provide accountability and produce annual reports on metrics including graduate tracking.
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting was a work session for information and collaboration.
Meeting Transcript
All right, please I didn't have to go with that more. It's in this minor. Thank you. Hey, thanks a lot. Hey, I we are really honored to be here today. I didn't know these work sessions occurred. You know, this is like a whole mystic thing. Yeah. What do they do over there? Yes. Yes, now I know what they do over here. No personal abuse, most traffic. Well, uh, I'm just gonna ask my team really quickly, except for Miss Minor, who's turning out to be like Michael Jordan, just one word, Lisa to introduce themselves and all of our support stuff. I'm sorry to break, I am the assistant for Dr. Lawrence and Ms. Minor. Yeah. Laura Collins, our associate director of education technology. Okay. Hello, Lisa Oletsky. For next generation. And Aaron to a lady chamber college and career readiness in both sense. Uh I just want to say that this work is transformational. And actually, this is a good plug for me. That's a transformational thing coming up for me. The mayor is going to marry me on Friday. So I don't know if Friday at noon. So I won't be single anymore. That's a transformation. Congratulations. Yeah, all right. Um, hey, I wanna say that um we um we we believe in system wide work. Um, and what that means is we do wanna don't get me wrong, we want to be in these positions for as long as possible to get working. So I'm not asking to be kicked out of the seat of superintendent and ignores my team when I leave. But we want to put a system together that's a legacy system, one that moves past just our careers here. Uh I'm gonna say briefly, we mentioned Akron yesterday. I think it's important to know uh that they had four superintendents. There were two elections, so two board turnovers, uh, two treasurers, um, and the system kept moving forward. You look at ACW's graduation rate, all the schools are above 90. You look at their career pathways, they're all connected, all those experiences are guaranteed. So I think for us, because we are getting close to retirement, we want our legacy to be a system so that the next superintendent, next assistant superintendent, the next group of young people to come in. It's not tear up, destroy, and start over, it's continue to build you and the rest of the communities around the region who have helped us put this work together. So continue to build, not tear down. And so I just wanted to say that as an opening to a foundation to the work that we're trying to do. And Miss Minor, I'm gonna turn it over to you. Okay, thank you, Dr. Lawrence, and thank you everyone for allowing us to come. And Mayor Turner Schloss and all the commissioners and your support last night. We're just overwhelmed with gratitude. And so we'll go on to the first slide.
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