Strategic & Data Consulting for School Districts
Build Your Master Plan for Student Success & Community Impact
Overview
In an era of declining enrollment, tight budgets, and high-stakes scrutiny, school districts need clear-eyed strategy and actionable insight. Master Plan Academy (MPA) offers consulting services that help districts
1. Analyze their biggest challenges, considering factors like fiscal and policy constraints, stakeholder buy-in, and efficient implementation
2. Clarify their vision, strategic options, and potential roadblocks
3. Make decisions rooted in data and equity
From evaluating programs and policies to uncovering trends in achievement and finance, MPA provides trusted, high-leverage support to district leaders. Our services are tailored for both short-term needs and long-term planning, and can be funded through central office budgets, state grants, or local education foundations.
Who We Partner With
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Superintendents, CFOs, and senior cabinet teams
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School board members seeking clear, actionable insight
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PTA and community partners involved in planning efforts
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State and local education foundations funding research and strategy support
Our Core Services
1. Strategic Planning Facilitation
- Clarify vision, mission, and priorities through collaborative design
- Build strategy maps and logic models for key initiatives
- Facilitate retreats, working groups, and board workshops
2. Policy Research, Decision-Frameworks & Options Analysis
- Provide rapid-turnaround research briefs on key issues
- Model policy tradeoffs and cost/benefit dynamics
- Draw on state, national, and academic benchmarks
3. Data Visualization, Insights & Interactive Dashboards
- Analyze trends in enrollment, test scores, attendance, and outcomes
- Uncover gaps and opportunity areas using disaggregated data
- Generate visualizations and interactive dashboards to facilitate decision-making with user-friendly interfaces for district, school board, and community stakeholders
4. Financial & Operational Analysis, Root Cause Analysis
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Assess school-level spending, cost per pupil, and efficiency
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Identify drivers of budgetary imbalance
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Evaluate facilities use, enrollment patterns, and strategic tradeoffs
5. Stakeholder Communication & Public Engagement
- Develop high-impact presentations and memos
- Support board-meetings and town halls
- Build clarity and trust around complex issues
6. Capacity Building: Data & AI Fluency Professional Development for District Staff
- Provide professional development workshops on data literacy and tools
- Deliver workshops on the ethical and effective use of cutting-edge A.I. tools in central office workflows
- Evaluate current district data collection and usage. Develop modern, strategic data plan
About Master Plan Academy
Master Plan Academy (MPA) is an EdTech & Educational Consulting startup. We were established in 2023 to
1) Provide thought partnership and support to school districts facing a broad array of challenges, but who are committed to maximizing their service to their communities through well-designed strategy, smart data usage, and efficient planning around core values.
2) Guide teens and their families in college admissions/post-high school planning that leverages the power of “Life Design” coaching to build critical life skills and create a post-high school plan that creates values alignment and life-fulfillment.
Why Should Districts Choose Us for Strategy & Data Consulting?
Neil Dandavati is the founder and CEO of Master Plan Academy. MPA’s district engagements are personally led by Neil, which allows us to keep our costs far lower than typical management consulting and educational consulting firms.
About Neil and MPA’s work:
- Former Michael Dukakis Governor’s Fellow and executive team advisor to the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick
- Experience leading strategic annual goal-setting for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California hospitals. Developed KPI dashboards for executives to track goal performance and make strategic decisions aligned with targets.
- Background in economic consulting at Cornerstone Research, one of the nation’s top economic and financial consulting firms. Developed complex financial models and statistical analysis that supported the testimony of expert witnesses in high-stakes commercial litigation
- Symantec Award for Innovation in Education: Developed new college/career/tech curriculum for 9th graders. Partnered with Pearson Education to develop a district-wide curriculum for San Francisco, serving 2000+ students.
- Trusted for strategic advice and data consulting by both corporate executive leaders and community organizations
- UC Berkeley: B.A. in Economics and Political Science
- Harvard University: Master in Public Policy
