Metro-AREPC collaborates with various entities in conducting research and evaluation on substantive educational issues. These collaborations are premised on the understanding that applied research can and should assist in answering the questions persisting in educational practice. The following is representative sample of research and evaluation projects Metro-AREC has conducted since 2005:
Study of Single-Sex Schools for Black
and Latino Boys
With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, the Black and Latino Male Schools Intervention Study (BLMSIS) is a
five year study of single-sex schools for Black and Latino boys in New York
City, Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston. The study poses two key research questions:
1) What are the school structures, processes and practices utilized by
single-sex schools for Black and Latino males; and 2) Are single-sex schools
more effective than co-educational schools at serving the academic and social
needs of low-income, Black and Latino male students? Through a mixed-method
design, this study will conduct data collection in which two comparison points
will be identified to answer the research questions: 1) the intervention theory
and intervention implementation (e.g., instruction, curriculum, class size,
teacher quality) of single-sex schools; and 2) pre and post student outcomes
(e.g., achievement, attendance, academic engagement - havioral and cognitive).
Methods will include questionnaires (pre/post), interviews, focus groups,
classroom and school observations, and document review. This data will be
collected from seven single-sex schools in NYC, Atlanta, and Houston along with
4-6 comparison schools over five years.
Ossining Diversity
Project
Over the course of a nine-month investigation, Metro-AREPC
assisted Ossining High School to identify the issues related to achievement
differences among demographic groups.
Teaneck Achievement Gap
Investigation
Over the course of a 12-month investigation,
Metro-AREPC assisted the Teaneck School District to identify the issues related
to achievement differences among demographic groups in the district.
Racial/ethnic disproportionality in
Special Education
In collaboration with the New York State Education
Department-VESID office, the Metro Center's Technical Assistance Center on
Disproportionality (TACD) is piloting a five year process of identifying and
addressing issues surrounding racial/ethnic disproportionality in special
education with six school districts. Metro-AREPC conducts the analysis of
relative risk ratio, chi square.
Black and Latino Male Advocacy
Coalition (BLMAC)
With funding from the Donor's Education
Collaborative, New York University's Metropolitan Center for Urban Education is
leading The Black and Latino Male Advocacy Coalition (BLMAC), a collective of
organizations to monitor the impact of NYCDOE educational reforms upon the
academic perforymance of Black and Latino male students.
Winning Strategies for Changing the Education/Life Trajectories of Black Male Youth in New York City
Metro-AREPC, led by Professor Pedro Noguera, and the Center for Research on Fathers, Children and Family Well-Being (CRFCFW) at Columbia University, under the direction of Professor Ron Mincy, with funding from the Winning Strategies Education Coalition are developing a joint research and policy consortium on the education of Black males in public schools (K- 12) in New York City. The proposed research and policy agenda for this consortium will focus upon how research on effective interventions can be used to build a pipeline to opportunity for this population.
Through the creation of this research consortium, we will undertake the following activities: 1) Research on the variation of educational trajectories of young Black males to better understand the different ways these students successfully or unsuccessfully navigate NYC schools and the school characteristics that contribute to successful academic outcomes; and 2) An assessment of supplemental education programs to identify promising out of school programs and practices that lead to improved educational outcomes. The goal of this work will be to assist the Winning Strategies Education Coalition in its mission to improve educational outcomes of Black male students in New York City.