In 2009, the Research Alliance's Governance Board approved four topic areas to guide our work. Since that time, we have launched studies that explore one or more topics areas in collaboration with other researchers. We use a variety of methods to conduct balanced, non-partisan studies that cross disciplinary boundaries. Collectively, these studies provide a more complete understanding of our four topic areas.
Topic Areas
- High School Achievement, Attainment, and Post-Secondary Preparation
- Achievement and Development in the Middle Grades
- Contexts That Support Effective Teaching
- Data Use for Practice and Policy
- Several studies cut across multiple topic areas, exemplifying the comprehensive work exploring the complexities of NYC public schools. To learn more about these cross-cutting projects, click here.
High School Achievement, Attainment, and Post-Secondary Preparation
Over the past 10 years, the NYC Department of Education has transformed the landscape of its secondary education system by phasing out more that 30 of its largest and lowest performing high schools, opening over 200 new small schools, and creating multiple pathway options for struggling students. During the same period, graduation rates in NYC public schools have risen from 52 to 63 percent. Yet, significant disparities persist among subgroups of students and many graduates arrive in post-secondary education institutions unprepared for the academic demands of college-level courses. The Research Alliance is building a portfolio of research projects aimed at learning about the key behavioral factors that enhance students' preparation for high school graduation and post-secondary education and about the policies, organizational arrangements, and educational practices that are most effective at promoting these behaviors.
Related Projects
- Understanding the Impact of Small High Schools of Choice
- The Impact of High School Phase-Outs
- Keeping Ninth Grade Students "On Track" to Graduation
- Critical Learning Environment Factors for High Schools
- High School Research Colloquium (Held on November 18, 2010 in collaboration with the Future of Children Journal.)
- High School Choice in New York City
Achievement and Development in the Middle Grades
In 2007, the NYC Council Middle School Task Force identified middle schools as the intractable problem of public schools. While test scores have increased in both elementary and middle grades, the rate of increase has been far lower among eighth graders. Only half of all eighth graders are proficient in English Language Arts and math. In addition to significant academic underachievement in grades 6-8, adolescents aged 11-14 face unique challenges during a rapid phase of social and emotional growth. Given the consensus that NYC middle grade schools are both important and ailing, RANYCS has designed several mixed-methods studies focused on improving middle grade schools. Findings from these studies will have practical applications for low-performing middle schools striving to improve student learning. By identifying components of successful learning environments and effective intervention strategies in NYC middle grade schools, this collection of work will both inform policy targeted at NYC middle grade schools and provide recommendations for middle school leaders and teachers.
Related Projects
- Turnaround Middle Schools
- Middle School Teacher Turnover
- Student Transitions through the Middle Grades
- Critical Learning Environment Factors for Middle Schools
- School of One Impact on Middle School Math Achievement
- ARIS Usage and ARIS-Local Rollout
Contexts That Support Effective Teaching
Practitioners and experts increasingly agree that teachers affect students’ growth and development more than any other school-related factor. In response, researchers have devoted unprecedented attention to investigating teacher recruitment, preparation, and evaluation. Research and reform have been at the center of this movement in NYC, with recent studies examining the utility of methods for evaluating teachers’ performance and the role that pre-service teacher training plays in preparing them for the classroom. However, few studies have investigated how NYC public schools influence teachers’ instructional effectiveness and development, nor their satisfaction with, or commitment to, their students and colleagues. Thus, practitioners have little guidance about how to identify and resolve organizational deficiencies that may be hindering instruction. To inform such endeavors, our preliminary research will examine how aspects of schools’ environment and operation – such as schools’ hiring processes, policies for granting tenure, and resources for supporting and developing teachers’ instructional practice – influence the quality of teaching. Our ultimate objective is to provide school and system administrators, teacher leaders, and school support organizations with information that can inform their efforts to strengthen the quality of teaching in schools where students are struggling academically.
Related Projects
Data Use for Practice and Policy
Federal policies like No Child Left Behind and NYC-specific policies like Children First require district and state departments of education to build sophisticated data systems as the infrastructure for accountability. Administrators, teachers, and parents have access to school-level data and information about their students that was previously unavailable. The NYC Department of Education invested heavily in school improvement strategies that rely on using both formative (more relevant to practice) and summative (more relevant to policy) data to diagnose learning challenges, monitor student progress, and build capacity for teaching and learning.
The Research Alliance focuses on data use initiatives specific to NYC public schools, such as ARIS and School of One. A descriptive study explores how teachers and administrators use ARIS to access student data. An impact study examines how the School of One’s innovative data use impacts middle school math achievement. Collectively, these studies build evidence about diverse data use initiatives.
Related Projects
Cross-Cutting Projects
Several studies cut across multiple topic areas, exemplifying the comprehensive work exploring the complexities of NYC public schools. For example, the Research Alliance examines existing data sources in innovative ways; we are developing measures of critical learning environment factors with the NYC School Survey data and developing “on-track” indicators for middle grade and high school transitions. The Research Alliance uses innovative methods including comparative interrupted time series analysis to assess impacts of policy interventions across city schools and discrete time survival analysis to measure teacher turnover and in NYC middle schools.
Related Projects
- Student Transitions through the Middle Grades
- Developing Measures of Critical Learning Environment Factors
- Keeping Ninth Grade Students “On Track” to Graduation
