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:

Hip Hop Education
To intervene and provide effective affordable assistance, the Hip-Hop Education Center (H2ED Center) for Research, Evaluation and Training was formed to fully promulgate and explore the potential of Hip-Hop pedagogy. Officially launched in June 2010 under the auspices of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University, and a generous donation from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the center strives to inspire and educate a new wave of educators, teaching artists, researchers, administrators, policymakers, social entrepreneurs and funders to work together to build up the fledgling field of Hip-Hop education.

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.