Informing Public Conversation

Throughout 2025, Research Alliance staff engaged with stakeholders and shared findings across a wide variety of platforms. For instance:

• We presented at:
  • The National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships annual forum;
  • A webinar hosted by NORC at the University of Chicago;
  • A Children First reunion event;
  • A convening organized by the AIMS Collaboratory;
  • Academic conferences held by AERA, APPAM, RESPECT, and AEFP; as well as
  • Numerous small-group meetings and briefings with students, teachers, parents, community partners, and school and district leaders. 

• We convened Weaving Stronger Networks of Support to identify and amplify strategies for collaborating more effectively on behalf of NYC youth. The event highlighted the Every Child and Family is Known and CUNY CARES initiatives, and surfaced important challenges, opportunities, and new directions for policy and research. Featured speakers included NYC Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Research Alliance Executive Director Cheri Fancsali, New Visions for Public Schools President Mark Dunetz, UC Irvine Professor Richard Arum, the Robin Hood Foundation's Chris Caruso, as well as a panel of leaders and practitioners from the two highlighted initiatives.
• We published the first in a series of reflections on evidence to inform the incoming Mayoral administration (this first piece focuses on career-connected learning).
• We showcased notable findings in news stories and press releases, through the Executive Director’s corner on our website, and via research reports, briefs, and the Spotlight on NYC Schools series.
• We connected with diverse audiences on social media. Our most viewed LinkedIn posts were about middle school equity, our new Youth Advisory Council, and the importance of evidence-based decision making for improving student outcomes.

Elevating Youth Voices

In November, we began recruiting for the Research Alliance’s inaugural Youth Advisory Council (YAC) cohort. We were floored by the enthusiastic response we received, including completed applications from nearly 50 high school students from all five boroughs. Starting this spring, the YAC will serve as a key source of youth voice at the Research Alliance, helping us to set research priorities, design studies, and interpret findings. Research Alliance staff will hold workshops to equip YAC members with leadership and data literacy skills that support their development as scholars and advocates in their schools and communities. In addition to the YAC, we are pleased to have several other students engaged as interns and part-time staff as part of the Research Alliance team. 

Launching New Work

The Research Alliance advanced a range of important new projects in 2025, including: 

• The Children First Retrospective. This study is examining the legacy and long-term effects of the Children First education reforms (implemented in New York City between 2002 and 2013). Drawing on oral history interviews, a synthesis of existing research, and longitudinal analysis of system-wide outcomes, the project seeks to identify lessons from this era that are applicable to the most pressing challenges schools face today.
• Study of Saga’s Online Math Tutoring. In partnership with MDRC, this project is studying the implementation and impact of Saga Education's live-online tutoring platform as a strategy to accelerate learning in NYC high schools.
• Expanding Opportunities for Transfer High School Students. Also in partnership with MDRC, this project is investigating the implementation and impacts of innovative career-connected learning strategies in 10 transfer schools.
• Examining Teacher Leader Diversity in NYC Schools. This study is exploring the role of teacher leaders of color in fostering inclusive and supportive learning environments, including effects on school hiring and retention practices, as well as the broader school climate.
• NYC Partnership for Math Equity. This project is examining how supplemental digital math tools can help improve conceptual understanding, engagement, collaboration, and equitable access to advanced math opportunities for Black and Latinx students.
• Nest Longitudinal Study. Nest is a specialized NYCPS program to support autistic students. Building on our prior research, this study will track post-secondary outcomes of Nest graduates over three years, examining education, employment, and quality of life metrics.
• Expanding Equity in AI. This evaluation will explore implementation and outcomes of an NYCPS AI literacy initiative aimed at empowering over 100 fellows to become classroom leaders who help ensure that students are prepared for an AI-powered future with equity and responsibility at the center.  

Publishing Results

During the last year, we released findings that informed policymakers and practitioners working in different parts of NYC’s education system:

• A series of reports from our evaluation of the CS4All initiative highlighted both successes and challenges, providing crucial information that district leaders used to refine the initiative over time. This included:
  • Building Teacher Capacity for Equitable Computer Science Education (February 2025), which examined teachers’ participation and experiences in CS4All professional learning, as well as their subsequent implementation of CS in the classroom.
  • Building School Capacity to Scale Up Computer Science Participation (April 2025), which explored variation in schools’ capacity to implement and sustain CS over time.
  • Evaluating the Outcomes of Students Taking Computer Science in NYC Schools (September 2025), which investigated the short- and longer-term outcomes associated with CS course-taking, illuminating improvements in computational thinking skills and an increased likelihood of pursuing CS in college. 

• New analyses advanced the development of indicators of educational equity for NYC’s education system, with interactive dashboards showing differences by race/ethnicity, neighborhood income, gender, special education and English learner status:
  • Equity Indicators: High School Outcomes (March 2025) analyzed equity in attendance, on-track rates, graduation rates, and college enrollment for the class of 2023.
  • Equity Indicators: High School Opportunities (March 2025) examined three measures of opportunity, related to academic rigor, school discipline, and school climate, focusing on differences across schools. This lens allowed us to consider how the experiences and resources available to students vary based on the characteristics of the schools they attend.
  • Equity Indicators: Middle School Outcomes (October 2025) presented an analysis of equity in NYC students’ middle school outcomes, including attendance, suspensions, grades, and test scores.
  • Equity Indicators: Middle School Opportunities (October 2025) examined measures of opportunity related to academic rigor, school discipline, and school climate at the middle school level, again focusing on differences across schools.
  • Forthcoming work will examine differences in opportunity within schools (for both middle and high schools students). 

• A Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) blog post (March 2025) spotlighted findings from our study of the effects of COVID-19 on NYC high school students. This work highlighted that while graduation rates did not decline (likely due to the easing of graduation requirements), the rate of improvement slowed—especially for low-income students. College enrollment dropped sharply, particularly for Black, Latinx, and low-income students, and students with disabilities.
• A recent Research Alliance report examining the costs of CTE-Dedicated high schools (December 2025) provided valuable information for policymakers involved in the ongoing expansion of career-connected learning, in NYC and around the country.
• Also of note, Research Alliance Affiliates produced findings in areas ranging from school choice and segregation to student discipline, the teacher workforce, and strategies to better serve English Learners. For example:
  • Dr. Richard Welsh’ book, Suspended Futures, offered insights into racial disparities in school discipline and potential solutions.
  • Racial Prisms: Experimental Evidence on Families’ Race-Based Evaluations of School Safety by Chantal A. Hailey found that anti-Black biases significantly shape perceptions of school safety, influencing school choice decisions and contributing to patterns of system-wide segregation and inequality.
  • Leaving to Fit In? The Ethnoracial Composition of Principals, Peer Teachers, and Teacher Turnover in NYC by Luis A. Rodriguez, Julie Pham, & Briana K. Gonçalves showed that Black teachers in NYC are significantly more likely to stay in their jobs when they have a Black principal and a strong presence of Black colleagues.
  • Relationship Between Professional Culture and Outcomes for Immigrant English Learner Youth: A Mixed-Methods Study by Adriana Villavicencio, Reva Jaffe-Walter, and Hua-Yu-Sebastian Cherng found correlations between certain professional conditions for teachers and EL student achievement.