FourPoint Education Partners LLC (FourPoint) is an education consulting company that provides assessment, recommendations, training, and development for schools and non-profits. While much of FourPoint’s work is based on data and surveys, the recommendations provided include improved academic structures, outreach, and equity and diversity programs and policies.

History and Work

Formed in 2004 in Bethesda, Maryland as Cross & Joftus, LLC, the group changed its name to FourPoint Education Partners in 2017. ¹ FourPoint’s work has four main components: needs assessment and strategic planning, organizational development, instructional leadership capacity development, and student-centered support systems. ²

FourPoint looks at needs assessment and strategic planning by focusing on various forms of data to identify strengths and weaknesses of schools and districts to develop an overall view of the organization, identify deficiencies, and create a plan to act. ³ FourPoint’s organizational development component examines how to act by re-organizing or creating new programs, professional development, or implementation of goals to achieve success. ⁴ Using the assessment, FourPoint then implements capacity development to train leaders and staff in areas identified as needed or deficient within a school system or nonprofit. ⁵ FourPoint’s student-centered programs provides guidance to closing achievement gaps and preparing students for life, college, and careers. ⁶

Clients

Since 2004, FourPoint has worked in 33 states and the District of Columbia. ⁷ FourPoint has worked on education policy and funding with numerous nonprofits including the Ford Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Wallace Foundation, NEA Foundation, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, National Public Education Support Fund, and the C.S. Mott Foundation. ⁸

FourPoint has worked with school districts in some of the largest cities in the country including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Kansas City, Nashville, Broward County (Miami), Denver, and Omaha. ⁹

FourPoint helped Alexandria (Virginia) City Public Schools develop its 2025 strategic plan, “Equity for All.” ¹⁰ The schools have said that racial equity will be “at the center of every decision that the school division will make.” ¹¹ The school superintendent, Gregory Hutchings, stated that 2020’s “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and systemic racism provided a “great opportunity to reimagine education” and “pursue racial equity in education.” ¹²

FourPoint provided student education data and assessment to the Champaign (Illinois) Unit 4 School District that led to the district’s Board of Education to declare racism a public health crisis. ^{13 14} In The district pledged to develop a racial equity policy, recognize Indigenous Peoples Day in October, include Muslim holidays into the school calendar, and instruct the Superintendent to conduct expanded mandatory diversity, inclusion, equity, and implicit bias training. ¹⁵

In 2013, operating under the former name, Cross & Joftus LLC was hired by the Buffalo school system for $432,000 to provide consulting work. ^{16 17} Mary Guinn of Cross & Joftus LLC was imbedded in the school district signing payroll documents, directing employees, and presiding over administrative and school board committee meetings, raising concerns that she was acting more as an administrator rather than an outside consultant. ^{18 19} As a result, the school board looked to terminate the consulting contract but ultimately Cross & Joftus LLC withdrew from the contract. ²⁰

Leadership

Scott Joftus is the co-founder and president of FourPoint Education Partners. Previously, Joftus was policy director at Alliance for Excellent Education, director at McKenzie Group, senior policy analyst at Council for Basic Education, and an analyst at Berkeley Planning Associates and Public Policy Institute of California. ²¹ Joftus was founding director and senior strategic advisor and technical assistance provider for the Race to the Top Technical Assistance Network during the Obama administration. ²² Joftus was selected as a corps member in the first year of Teach for America in 1990. ²³

1. Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://egov.maryland.gov/BusinessExpress/EntitySearch/Business.
2. FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com.
3. “Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning.” FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/needs-assessments-strategic-planning/.
4. “Organizational Development.” FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/organizational-development/.
5. “Instructional Leadership and Capacity Building.” FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/instructional-leadership-capacity-building/.
6. “Student Centered Support Systems.” FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/student-centered-support-systems/.
7. “What We Do.” FourPoint Education Partners website. www.fourpointeducation.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/clients/.
8. “What We Do.” FourPoint Education Partners website. www.fourpointeducation.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/clients/.
9. ^[1] “What We Do.” FourPoint Education Partners website. www.fourpointeducation.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/clients/.
10. Alexandria City Public Schools. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.acps.k12.va.us/domain/1330.
11. Alexandria City Public Schools. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.acps.k12.va.us/domain/1330.
12. ^[1] Hutchings, Dr. Gregory. “A Leap Forward for Alexandria City Public Schools.” Alexandria Times. August 12, 2021. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://alextimes.com/2021/08/filling-in-the-blanks-with-dr-gregory-hutchings-ed-d-a-leap-forward-for-alexandria-city-public-schools/.
13. “What We Do.” FourPoint Education Partners website. www.fourpointeducation.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/what-we-do/clients/. Champaign Unit 4 School District website. www.champaignschools.org. June 24, 2020. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.champaignschools.org/news/what_s_new/resolution_declaring_racism_public_health_crisis.
14. “Champaign Unit 4 School District: District Needs Assessment.” FourPoint Education Partners. February 20, 2020. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://go.boarddocs.com/il/champil/Board.nsf/files/BQVRZQ6A836A/$file/Champaign_Needs%20Assessment_Final.pdf
15. “Resolution to Declare Racism a Public Health Crisis.” Champaign Unit 4 School District. June 24, 2021. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://go.boarddocs.com/il/champil/Board.nsf/files/BQVQLC68AA3A/$file/RESOLUTION_re%20Racism%20_FINAL%20(clean%20version).pdf.
16. WIVB-TV Buffalo. October 7, 2013. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKF6hCN5dw0&t=40s.
17. Lankes, Tiffany. “Seed Sown Last Fall for Guinn to be Rehired by School District, State Records Show.” Buffalo News. March 6, 2014. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/education/seed-sown-last-fall-for-guinn-to-be-rehired-by-school-district-state-records-show/article_60687c3e-8376-521b-98f0-a26878da74a8.html.
18. More on Mary Guinn and Cross & Joftus.” Buffalo News. September 25, 2013. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/education/more-on-mary-guinn-and-cross-joftus/article_b5e90f58-6763-5555-8948-faea5d138249.html. Lankes, Tiffany. “Seed Sown Last Fall for Guinn to be Rehired by School District, State Records Show.” The Buffalo News. March 6, 2014. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/education/seed-sown-last-fall-for-guinn-to-be-rehired-by-school-district-state-records-show/article_60687c3e-8376-521b-98f0-a26878da74a8.html.
19. Lankes, Tiffany. “Seed Sown Last Fall for Guinn to be Rehired by School District, State Records Show.” Buffalo News. March 6, 2014. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/education/seed-sown-last-fall-for-guinn-to-be-rehired-by-school-district-state-records-show/article_60687c3e-8376-521b-98f0-a26878da74a8.html.
20. Lankes, Tiffany. “Seed Sown Last Fall for Guinn to be Rehired by School District, State Records Show.” Buffalo News. March 6, 2014. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/education/seed-sown-last-fall-for-guinn-to-be-rehired-by-school-district-state-records-show/article_60687c3e-8376-521b-98f0-a26878da74a8.html.
21. “Scott Joftus.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-joftus-b5b1664a/.
22. “Scott Joftus.” FourPoint Education Partners. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.fourpointeducation.com/who-we-are/our-team/scott-joftus/.
23. “Scott Joftus.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed November 21, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-joftus-b5b1664a/.