Blogs
New Podcast Episode Alert: How Continuous Improvement Tools Can Transform P-20 Partnerships
What if the secret to addressing complex problems across the P-12 and higher education pipeline lies in deeper understanding of 1) human experiences and 2) interconnected systems that shape what resources are available and drawn upon. In our latest podcast …
What Can We Learn from Positive Outlier Elementary Schools? NYKids New Study Aims to Find Out
What if the keys to improving student academic performance and their engagement in school could be found in the everyday practices happening in schools across New York state? That’s the question driving NYKids’ newest study. Building on two decades of research into what helps educators achieve better outcomes for …
Amplifying Youth Voice and Identity through Action Research: A Conversation with Dr. Jenay F. E. Willis
This latest blog shares highlights from our Deep Dive podcast episode with Dr. Jenay F. E. Willis from the University of Mississippi! Dr. Willis is a researcher and scholar practitioner who draws from her own experiences as a Black woman …
NYKids Advisory Board Meets to Discuss State of Education: COMPASS Tool and Guide Made Available to Support School Improvement
We are grateful to the members of our NYKids Advisory Board who gathered on December 8th for our annual meeting. Their dedication to supporting NYKids in providing relevant research and improvement resources for educators across New York State is invaluable. …
Happy Holidays from NYKids! Our 2025 Year in Review
We hope you will join us in celebrating another inspiring year of research and meaningful collaboration! NYKids is thrilled to share our end-of-the-year blog, highlighting our team’s research, school improvement work, blogs, and presentations. Diving deep into 2025 with new …
Recent NYKids Publication Highlights Experiences of Special Education Teachers during COVID-19
Teaching has always been a demanding profession, but the COVID-19 pandemic amplified educators’ stress levels in new ways. In this unprecedented crisis, educators encountered a whirlwind of challenges including rapid shifts to remote learning and navigating health protocols. While most …
“Fostering Leadership Resilience Through Collaboration and Community”: A Sneak Peek at Upcoming NYKids Presentations and Workshops at the University Council for Educational Administration Convention
As K-12 educators navigate increasingly complex educational landscapes, professional learning opportunities to foster collaboration and community have never been more critical. This year’s University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Convention promises to deliver cutting-edge insights and practical strategies through sessions …
Teacher Retention, School Discipline, K-12 School Finance Oh My! A New Podcast with Dr. Lucy Sorensen
Understanding the Complex Challenges Facing Today’s Schools Education policy faces unprecedented challenges. Teacher shortages plague districts nationwide, and school discipline policies spark heated debates. Meanwhile, funding formulas struggle to address the comprehensive needs of students and educators alike in communities …
Tracking Developments in the Superintendency with Dr. Chuck Dedrick: Executive Director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents
By Kristen C. Wilcox and Aaron Leo About Chuck Dedrick: Our Latest Podcast Guest We are delighted to announce a new podcast with Dr. Charles S. Dedrick, one of NYKids’ valued advisory board members. Dr. Dedrick has served as Executive …
Community Schools and Partnerships: A Conversation with Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher
On this week’s Deep Dive episode, NYKids Research Assistant, Jessie Tobin, interviews Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher from Ohio State University (OSU). Dr. Anderson-Butcher is a Professor in the College of Social Work at OSU, and her areas of expertise are positive …
Educational Improvement Science: Global and Local Perspectives
By, Maria I. Khan Educational Improvement Science (EIS) has emerged as one of the most promising approaches in transforming how schools and systems respond to persistent challenges. Unlike traditional reforms that often rely on top-down solutions, EIS emphasizes disciplined inquiry, …
Engaging Families and Communities featuring Joseph Otter: Director of School Community Partnerships, Lansingburgh Central School District
A new episode of NYKids Deep Dive is ready for you – just in time for the new school year! In this episode, Assistant Director of NYKids Aaron Leo meets with Joseph Otter, the Director of School Community Partnerships in …
Teaching Compassion in P-12 Education: Reflections and Research Highlights
by Jessie Tobin In 2025, how have the roles of P-12 educators changed? The approaching new school year has likely inspired some reflection about the purposes school serves for young people. While there probably isn’t a single “correct” answer to …
NYKids Deep Dive Podcast: A Conversation with Cindy Gallagher of SAANYS
By Maria I. Khan and Aaron Leo We’re excited to announce a brand-new episode of NYKids Deep Dive, our podcast series featuring powerful conversations with educators, leaders, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities across New York State. In this …
New NYKids Research Results: What Do Parents Value Most in Positive Outlier Schools?
By, Oema Rambharose We know what makes a school a persistent positive outlier from the point of view of school leaders and educators, but what do parents think? Do their values match what school leaders and educators believe is important …
New Podcast Episode: Demystifying the NYKids Performance Tracker
We’re excited to announce the latest episode of our podcast, where we dive deep into the world of student performance data with two brilliant minds: Doug Fulton and Suzanne Smith. In this episode, we explore the NYKids Performance Tracker, a powerful tool designed …
Small Town, Big Impact: Building Belonging at Fillmore Central School
Episode seven has just dropped! We hope you are as excited for the latest episode of NYKids Deep Dive, a new podcast series featuring conversations with educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. This …
NYKids Deep Dive Podcast: Insights from Bob Schneider, Executive Director of NYSSBA
We’re excited to announce a new episode of NYKids Deep Dive! Our podcast features the voices of educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. In this podcast, NYKids Graduate Assistant Paul Guay and NYKids …
NYKids’ Deep Dive Podcast: Addressing post-COVID challenges at Crown Point Central School
Summer is upon us, and so is a new episode of NYKids Deep Dive, the podcast featuring conversations with educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. This episode is the second in a series …
NYKids Deep Dive Podcast: Performance-Based Learning and Assessment with NYSED’s Allison Armour-Garb and Nicole Lennon
We’re excited to announce a new episode of NYKids Deep Dive! Our podcast features the voices of educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. In this podcast, NYKids Director Kristen C. Wilcox and Assistant …
NYKids’ Deep Dive Podcast: We talk all things AI with LaFayette Jr.-Sr. High School Principal, Jason P. Ryan
Episode three has just dropped! We hope you are as excited for the latest episode of NYKids Deep Dive, a new podcast series featuring conversations with educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. This …
NYKids’ Deep Dive Podcast: Mindfulness: What Does it Really Mean? How Can Educators Apply It? Dr. Schussler Breaks It Down
We’re excited to announce episode two of the NYKids Deep Dive, a new podcast series featuring the voices of educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality educational opportunities from across New York State. In our second episode, NYKids Research Assistants Jessie …
The Shifting Purpose of a High School Education
By K.C. Wilcox NYKids’ research was recently highlighted in the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Educational Change Special Interest Group “Lead the Change Series.” In this blog we share some of the highlights from this publication and provide a sneak peek …
Student Voice and Leadership Skills for Leaders of the Future
by Jessie Tobin You may have noticed a surge in interest in the term ‘Student Voice’ during the last few decades. While cultivating student voice in schools and the classrooms looks different across contexts, the practice of engaging students as …
Announcing NYKids’ Deep Dive Podcast: First Episode with Dave Little from the Rural Schools Association
Keeping up with NYKids research and school improvement work in New York State just got more exciting! We’re excited to announce the NYKids Deep Dive, a new podcast series featuring the voices of educators, researchers, and advocates for high-quality …
International Perspectives on School Improvement and Effectiveness
by, Kristen C. Wilcox The International Congress for School Improvement and Effectiveness (ICSEI) is a venue for those committed to the ICSEI three-decade old mission “to empower school effectiveness and improvement” by providing opportunities such as the Congress for networking …
Highlighting NYKids Invited Talks in Singapore
By Kristen C. Wilcox In the context of growing interest in the generation and use of improvement research in education (IRE) and collaborative continuous improvement in education (CCIE) strategies in addressing improvement imperatives across the P-20 pipeline, NYKids is honored …
Spotlighting Newcomer Youth in the New Year: Who are New York’s Newcomers and How are Schools Meeting Their Needs?
The U.S. Department of Education defines newcomers simply as “any foreign-born students and their families who have recently arrived in the United States.” This definition acknowledges not only the vast cultural and linguistic diversity of newcomers but also recognizes that …
Happy Holidays from NYKids! Our 2024 Year in Review
Yet another eventful year is in the books for NYKids! We are thrilled to share highlights from the past year, as well as a preview of what is in store in 2025! NYKids Embarks on New Study of Persistent and …
NYKids’ 20th Anniversary Study of Emergent and Persistent Positive Outlier Schools: Cross-Case Report Now Available
By, Paul Guay, Aaron Leo, and Kristen C. Wilcox After a year of hard work, our latest study, NYKids’ 20th Anniversary Study of Emergent and Persistent Positive Outlier Schools: What Accounts for Better Student Outcomes Over Time? is finally here! Study …
NYKids Advisory Board Meeting Appreciations and Summary: Discussing Hot Topics in PK-12 Education
By, Jessie Tobin, Kristen C. Wilcox, & Aaron Leo “Wonderful work!” – Dave Little, Executive Director, Rural Schools Association On November 19th, 2024, the NYKids Advisory Board convened to discuss updates on NYKids research, research dissemination efforts, and school improvement …
Relationships as the Foundation to Civil Discourse: Lessons from Alfred-Almond Jr. Sr. HS
By Paul Guay and Jessie Tobin “We do not shy away from this… talk, talk and learn how to talk civilly.” – Teacher, Alfred-Almond Jr. Sr. HS In the wake of the recent election cycle, political discourse is bound to …
How Do We Identify Persistent and Emergent Positive Outlier Schools and Study Them?: Methods and Procedures Report for NYKids’ Latest Study Now Available
by Aaron Leo, Kristen C. Wilcox, and Paul Guay After a year of hard work, our latest study, “NYKids’ 20th Anniversary Study of Emergent and Persistent Positive Outlier Schools: What Accounts for Better Student Outcomes Over Time?” is on its …
NYKids’ Research Article Alert: Principals’ Discursive Framing and Communications
by Kristen C. Wilcox, Maria Khan, & Aaron Leo “A crisis that is well-handled can ultimately improve an organization and entire systems” (Bundy et al., 2017). NYKids’ recent research project focused on the experiences of New York State educators during …
What is the research saying about community engagement?: Check out open access teaching cases until Dec. 13th
by, Kristen C. Wilcox I have served on the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership (JCEL) Editorial Team for the past few years and appreciate the practical contributions the journal makes. The articles offer what are called “teaching cases” meant …
Keeping Traditions While Innovating to Engage: Promising Practices from Alfred-Almond Jr. Sr. HS Case Study
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures, educators across the world continue to express concerns about keeping students engaged. For instance, a recent report by the Center for Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University reports …
Brookfield Central Case Study from Latest NYKids Study Now Available
This summer, NYKids has been busy releasing case studies of schools which participated our latest study of Persistent and Emergent Positive Outliers in New York State. This study explores schools we identified as positive outliers in prior NYKids studies (“persistent …
Lessons on Stabilizing Leadership, Bridging Cultural Divides, and Innovating around Curriculum and Instruction: LaFayette Jr. Sr. HS Case Study Now Available!
As recent research notes, the COVID-19 pandemic elevated rates of burnout and turnover among school and district leaders. These shifts often had a destabilizing effect on schools across the country, further highlighting the impact which responsive and supportive leaders can …
Adapting to Youth Mental Health Needs in Rural Schools: Lessons from NYKids’ Latest Study
Youth mental health is a top concern for educators and policymakers as the last two decades have seen a rise in youths’ mental health struggles. Scholars have identified youth social media engagement, social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the …
Latest Case Study from Roxbury Central School Now Available from NYKids
This summer, the NYKids team continues to release case studies from our 20th anniversary study. This year, we’ve returned to schools from our previous study which have continued to demonstrate positive outlier status (what we call “persistent positive outliers”) as …
Reporting From the Rural Schools Association Conference: Leveraging Strengths and Sharing Promising Practices
By, Kristen C. Wilcox “Great moments are made of great opportunity” – Herb Brooks With the theme “The Miracle of Rural Education”, inspired by the famous 1980 Olympic Hockey Team gold medal victory, rural educators and stakeholders converged in Lake …
What Does “Excellence on Purpose” Look Like in Malverne Senior High School?: Announcing NYKids Latest Persistent Positive Outlier Case Study
We are excited to announce the case study of Malverne Senior High School our latest persistent positive outlier school in this study, is now available. Below, we share some of the major themes we found and share take-aways on what …
Latest Case Study from Fillmore Central School Now Available from NYKids: Leveraging Belongingness to Improve Students’ Experiences
NYKids has been hard at work this year visiting schools throughout the state. As described in a previous blog, for our 20th anniversary study, NYKids is returning to schools we identified as positive outliers in prior NYKids studies (what we …
How a Micro-school in Pakistan Empowers Students with Life-long Learning Skills
By, Maria I. Khan and Sumaiya Zohaib We are delighted to share this guest blog from NYKids Research Collaborator (and former post-doctoral scholar) Maria Khan and colleagues highlighting the journey from student agency to student empowerment undertaken by a micro-school …
What’s the Sell on SEL?
NYKids is delighted to highlight this guest blog. As this research is not our own, please direct any comments or questions to the author. By, Michael Burns, Children’s Book Author and Early Learning Principal, Questar III BOCES If you have …
New Study Results: Supporting School Personnel in Managing School Emergency Events and Crafting Emergency Response Plans
NYKids is delighted to highlight this guest blog from University at Albany colleagues. As this research is not our own, please direct any comments or questions to the first author. By, Kristie Asaro-Saddler, Ph.D, Christine Smith, Ph.D., Heather Kurto, Ph.D., …
Crown Point Case Study from Latest NYKids Study Now Available!
As recounted in a previous blog, the NYKids team is underway with a new study! To celebrate our 20th year of research, NYKids is returning to study schools we identified as positive outliers in prior NYKids studies (what we call …
Research-Practice Partnerships in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from The NYKids Equity in Education Collaborative
By, Kristen C. Wilcox, Maria I. Khan and Jessie Tobin In the spring, it is now typical to see social media filled with posts highlighting events from three years ago – the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many posts reflect …
Centering Student and Educator Voice: A Regional High School’s Improvement Journey to Belonging
by Jessie Tobin and Kristen C. Wilcox It’s conference season! NYKids is headed to Philadelphia on April 11th for the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) 2024 Meeting. We are thrilled for the opportunity to share our partnership work with Tech …
Bridging Accountability and Improvement: A Carnegie Summit Presentation by NYKids and NYSED
By, Kristen C. Wilcox and Theresa Billington NYKids has been studying positive outlier schools (those achieving statistically better outcomes for youth of color and those growing up in poverty) for two decades. One of our consistent findings has related to …
Inclusive and Safe School Climates: The “Secret Sauce” of Better Youth Experiences in School (Part 1)
by Lisa Graham-Donato What is “School Climate”? The National School Climate Center (NSCC) defines school climate as the “quality and character of school life” which is based on the “patterns of students’ parents’ and school personnel’s experience of school life.” …
The Promise of Career and Technical Education (CTE): Lessons from the American Federation of Teachers’ School Improvement Leadership Institute
By Aaron Leo and C. Fred Engelhardt Jr. This January, educators, policymakers, and community members from across the country arrived in New York City for the Center for School Improvement (CSI) Leadership Institute held by the American Federation of Teachers …
Announcing NYKids New Study of Persistent and Emergent Positive Outlier Schools
Twentieth Year of NYKids Informing, Inspiring, and Improving New year, new logo, new study! NYKids is excited to announce that 2024 is our 20th year of fulfilling our mission “to inform, inspire, and improve.” We extend appreciation to the state …
New research on agency: A report out from the International Congress on School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI)
by Kristen C. Wilcox The topic of agency is not new to the education field and for good reason. NYKids, for example, has found that over the almost 20 years of positive outlier school studies we have conducted, agency is …
NYKids’ Top Five Blogs from 2023: Reflections and Launch of 2024 Study
by Jessie Tobin & Lisa Graham-Donato The NYKids team wishes everyone a wonderful start to the new year! To gear up for the year ahead we are taking a trip down memory lane and reflecting on our audience engagement in …
Clear and direct: Communication lessons schools learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
By Adrienne Leon, APR, Director of Engagement & Development Services at Capital Region BOCES At 3 p.m. on March 12, 2020, a group of 24 school superintendents from the greater Capital Region and their teams met on a conference call. …
Highlights from NYKids’ Conference Presentations, Part II: Educators’ Stress and Emotional Labor (and Why Promoting Collegiality is Key)
By Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox While NYKids Director Kristen C. Wilcox attended the UCEA convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, co-facilitating critical conversations on collaborative research, Aaron Leo, Assistant Director of Research for NYKids, was in Toronto, Canada for the …
The Five S’s of Continuous Improvement Taking Hold in Wynantskill: A Second in our Series of Updates from NYKids’ COMPASS Partners
By Kristen C. Wilcox and Lisa Graham-Donato As the second in a series on NYKids’ partner schools’ improvement efforts, this week we are focusing on Wynantskill Union Free School District. We continue to draw on the 5S Framework for problem …
Highlights from NYKids’ Conference Presentations on Leader-Researcher Collaboration
By Kristen C. Wilcox We (Kristen and Aaron) were honored to have opportunities to represent NYKids and participate in two conferences between November 17th– 19th. The University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) annual convention was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and …
The Five S’s of Continuous Improvement: Updates form NYKids’ COMPASS Partner Oppenheim-Ephratah St. Johnsville (OESJ)
by Kristen C. Wilcox, Meg Rooney, and Lisa Graham-Donato The growing body of research on what supports school improvement initiatives points to a few key considerations. One iteration of these considerations was discussed in the recently published Foundational Handbook on …
Collective Empathy, Shared Commitment, and Collegial Leadership: Findings and Implications from Pandemic-Era Research
By, Dr. C. Fred Engelhardt Jr., Director of Grants and Program Development, City School District of Albany There are certain national and global events that folks remember the precise moment when they occurred, and all of the situational context associated …
NYKids’ Latest Research: Job Demands and Control among Elementary School Teachers
By Aaron Leo, Elizabeth A. Holdsworth, & Kristen C. Wilcox As discussed in previous blogs, NYKids conducted a survey study of educators’ experiences of stress during the pandemic. For our most recent analysis, NYKids collaborated with Elizabeth Holdsworth, Assistant Professor …
Colleagues from the American Institutes for Research visit UAlbany, Chatham, and Tech Valley High School
By, Aaron Leo, Lisa Graham-Donato, Jessie Tobin, Kristen C. Wilcox Over the past year, NYKids has partnered with Chatham Central School District (CSD), Tech Valley High (TVHS), and colleagues from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) COVID-19 Equity in Education project to address the impacts …
Better Relationships – Better Decision-Making – Better Outcomes for Students and Educators
By Manya C. Bouteneff, Ed.D. Poverty is not fate. The cycle of poverty and poor academic performance is not inevitable. I identified high-poverty, non-selective public schools in New York State where Economically Disadvantaged (ED) students do well according to rigorous …
Back to School: Key Strategies to Encourage Student Engagement and Belonging
By, Jessie Tobin and Maria Khan Another summer has flown by, and students and educators around the world are returning to school in September. After months of summer break, getting back into the school schedule and engaging in school activities …
Engagement and Continuous School Improvement in the New School Year: NYKids and Oppenheim-Ephratah St. Johnsville’s COMPASS Institute Highlights
By Jessie Tobin, Kristen C. Wilcox & Meg Rooney What Do We Know About Engagement? “ priority was build relationships built on mutual respect and transparency and know where people are coming from . . . make ourselves …
How Educators in Rural Schools Met the Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Gregory Massara Background & Overview In rural communities, the shift in education during the pandemic involved an “entirely different experience” in learning and teaching for students, teachers, school leaders, and parents. While rural communities and their schools are not …
Celebrating Student Diversity: How has Albany School of Humanities Created a Culture of Belongingness?
By, Marie Culihan, Principal of Albany School of Humanities (ASH) and Maria Khan, an ASH Parent and Postdoctoral Associate at NYKids Research has demonstrated the benefits of celebrating diversity in classrooms and schools including improved academic outcomes, better social-emotional capabilities …
Upcoming New York State School Board’s Association Event: Promoting Educator Well-being
By, Kristen C. Wilcox, Associate Professor, University at Albany & Director, NYKids & Aaron Leo, Assistant Director, NYKids What do we know about educator well-being during the pandemic and what can School Board members do to ensure that schools are …
NYKids Partners with HFM BOCES: Galvanizing Shared Leadership for Equity in 2023
By Kristen C. Wilcox and Jessie Tobin Wondering what to focus on in the 2023 school year and how to launch improvement efforts for equity this summer? Whether it’s tackling student engagement challenges or plugging holes in the educator workforce …
Engaging the Families of Multilingual Learners During the Pandemic
By, Dr. Amy Crosson, Associate Professor, Penn State’s College of Education, Dr. Rebecca Silverman, Associate Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education, Dr. Aaron Leo, Assistant Director of Research, NYKids, and Kristen C. Wilcox, Associate Professor, University at Albany & Director, …
Global Progressive Leadership for Equity: Athens, Greece Conference Take-aways
By Kristen Campbell Wilcox What do progressive educational leaders need to know about addressing educational equity challenges from colleagues around the globe? This was a central question guiding my thinking as I represented NYKids at the Educational Leaders Without Borders …
Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities: Challenges and Promising Practices from NYKids Research
by Jessie Tobin and Kristen C. Wilcox In 2022, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) published data on youth reading assessments showing a dip in test scores among nine-year-old students. These data were especially alarming for students with disabilities …
Flipping the Script: Are Schools and Colleges Ready for Today’s Students?
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Jessie Tobin From April 23rd -25th the NYKids team participated in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Annual Summit in San Diego, California. The event hosted funders, teachers, school and district leaders, improvement …
Supporting Leaders’ Learning of the Foundations of Improvement Science: Highlights from an Upcoming Interactive Workshop
By Kristen C. Wilcox On Monday April 24th at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront (and available as a pre-recorded session for those attending virtually) I am delighted to join with colleagues from around the United States to offer a workshop …
NYKids Team Presenting Study Findings at AERA Annual Conference
by Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox The NYKids team is getting ready to head to Chicago for the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference. We’re excited to present findings from our latest study exploring the effects of the pandemic …
Teachers’ Emotions during the Pandemic
by Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox “Emotions are at the heart of teaching” – Hargreaves (2001, p. 835) Teaching goes far beyond simply “delivering” content to learners but is intimately linked with emotions. As education scholar Hargreaves’ quote suggests, …
Using Technology to Engage Students and Families during the Pandemic: Lessons from Positive Outlier Schools
by Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox Recent NYKids blogs have explored findings from our latest report, “Opportunities and Challenges to Adapt and Innovate: How Educators Confronted the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The research drew on interviews and focus groups with 88 …
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Balanced Approach to Stakeholder Empowerment During Change
by Kristen C. Wilcox & Francesca Durand In this blog, we (Drs. Kristen C. Wilcox, University at Albany and Francesca Durand, Russell Sage College) share findings from a study of leaders’ stakeholder empowerment strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. More from …
Closing Learning Gaps: Strategies from Positive Outlier Schools Across New York State
by Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox In NYKids’ most recent study, our team investigated how educators responded to the pandemic in six schools across New York State. These schools were identified as positive outliers based on their relatively better …
Improving Educational Equity through Research-Practice Partnerships
by Maria I. Khan, Kristen C. Wilcox, Jessie Tobin & Aaron Leo NYKids has been working to address many of the adverse effects of the pandemic through our COVID-19 research study as well as supporting and developing research-practice partnerships (RPPs) …
Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic & Remote Instruction in a Low-Income, High-Diversity Urban Elementary School: NYKids Shares New Research at the Comparative and International Education Society
by Maria I. Khan and Kristen C. Wilcox As the pandemic began in March 2020, millions of children around the world were shifted from in-person to remote instruction. Globally, education systems and structures changed dramatically. Pandemic-induced remote schooling was experienced …
Inform, Inspire & Improve: NYKids 2022 Engagement Round Up and Invitation for Feedback
By Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox Happy New Year from NYKids! We are thrilled to embark on a new era of accomplishing our mission to inform, inspire, and improve with our partners across the state, nation, and world (and …
Advancing Educational Equity Research, Policy, and Practice: Reflections on 18 Years of NYKids Research
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Hal A. Lawson Unpacking “Equity” “Equity continues to be defined in a variety of ways and the goals and character of equity-oriented improvement efforts are impacted by how equity is defined” (Wilcox & Lawson, 2022, …
“Will you be here in three years?”: New Frameworks to Support University-School Partnership Improvement Hubs
By Kristen C. Wilcox (University at Albany, SUNY) & Sarah J. Zuckerman (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) “Will you be here in three years?” I was asked this question recently when facilitating a conversation with improvement team members in one of NYKids’ …
NYKids Latest Study on Opportunities and Challenges to Adapt and Innovate: How Educators Confronted the COVID-19 Pandemic Now Available
by Kristen C. Wilcox, Maria I. Khan, Aaron Leo and Jessie Tobin The NYKids team is pleased to announce that our latest report “Opportunities and Challenges to Adapt and Innovate: How Educators Confronted the COVID-19 Pandemic” is now available on …
Reflections from the Fall 2022 NYKids Advisory Board Meeting
By, Kristen C. Wilcox, Maria I. Khan, Aaron Leo and Jessie Tobin The NYKids team met with our Advisory Board members for the fall 2022 meeting on November 10. Through these meetings, our team regularly shares updates on its core …
Creating Pathways for College and Career Success Through Mentoring
By Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox Crown Point Central School was one of seven schools NYKids investigated in the 2018 College and Career Readiness (CCR) study and was also highlighted in the CCR youth-focused study of 2020. It was …
Social-Emotional Learning during COVID: Lessons from Lake George Elementary School
by Aaron Leo The last year has seen a range of new evidence which points to the severe effects of the pandemic on youths’ mental health and social-emotional wellbeing. A report from the Center for Disease Control, for example, states …
Were schools ever “safe”?
by Dr. Christine Smith Merriam-Webster defines the word “safe” as: secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss. With what appears to be an increase of gun violence on school property across the US, “school safety” is high on the …
Focusing Collective Efforts on and for Equity: AIR RPP-Network Convening
By Maria I. Khan & Kristen C. Wilcox NYKids’s Partnerships with TVHS and Chatham with support from AIR NYKids has been regularly sharing updates about our work with Tech Valley High School and Chatham Central School District in addressing critical …
New NYKids Study Reveals Gendered Impacts of Pandemic on Educator Workforce
By, Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox “We must do more to support students and teachers in our state and encourage a new generation to enter the field of education so that New York never again faces the chronic staffing …
Addressing Social-emotional Learning and Mental Health: New NYKids Research and Highlights from Whitesboro Middle School
By K.C. Wilcox Reports continue to roll in regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s mental health. In a 2021 report, an estimated 37.1% of students experienced poor mental health in the pandemic, 44.2% of students reported …
Engaging Families During the Pandemic: Lessons from NYKids Research
By Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox As we have recounted in previous blogs, NYKids’ most recent study explored the impacts of the pandemic on educators in six schools throughout New York State. One line of inquiry we pursued was …
“We were all pulling on the same rope”: Case Study Findings Now Available from Shaker Road Elementary School
NYKids is happy to share a blog from our most recent study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from Shaker Road Elementary School in the South Colonie Central School District. …
Bus Drivers as Unsung Heroes: New Research on How to Keep Them Driving!
by Brian Carey and Susan Phillips As we head back to school, it is a good time to take stock of the contributions of the many personnel that make for a successful school and a quality education. Every one of …
“We always have to meet the needs of our community”: Case Study Findings Now Available from Tamarac Secondary School
by Aaron Leo NYKids is happy to share a blog from our most recent study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from Tamarac Secondary School in the Brunswick Central School District. …
“Collaboration, Teamwork, and Building Connections Matter”: Newest Case Study on Chatham Middle School Now Available
by K.C. Wilcox and Mike Burns This blog announces another NYKids 2022 case study of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from Chatham Middle School in the Chatham Central School District. The …
“We were determined”: Case Study Findings Now Available from Lake George Elementary School
By Aaron Leo & James Conway NYKids is happy to share our second blog from our most recent study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from Lake George Elementary School in …
“Relationships Matter”: Whitesboro Middle School Campus Case Study Findings Now Available
By K.C. Wilcox and John Egresits This blog announces another NYKids 2022 case study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from the Whitesboro Middle School campus in the Whitesboro Central School …
Opportunities and Challenges for Adaptation and Innovation: First Case Study Findings Now Available from Deerfield Elementary School
By K.C. Wilcox and Kelli McGowan This is the first in a series of blogs NYKids shares from our most recent study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education workforce. It highlights key take-aways from Deerfield Elementary …
What Are We Trying to Accomplish? Simple Questions to Guide Summer Continuous Improvement and 2022-23 Planning
By Kristen C. Wilcox As we introduced in a previous blog, NYKids has partnered with Chatham Central School District, Tech Valley High (TVHS), and colleagues from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) COVID-19 Equity in Education (CEE) Project in a …
Summertime is Perfect Social-Emotional Wellbeing Time
By, Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox Across the country, students are being released for the summer in just days. For educators, that final ring of the bell may elicit a range of emotions. From NYKids’ current research on educators’ …
Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on High School Students from Their Own Perspectives: A Guest Blog from Millennium Brooklyn High School
By, Vilma Argueta, Sophia Loughran, Graham Vonnegut and Mitchell Basin Kozhkokar Introduction The impact of COVID-19 on education has been detrimental throughout the last couple of years for students and teachers alike. We decided to dive deeper on these issues …
Reflecting on Pandemic Uncertainty: A Personal Account from NYKids’ Interns
By Jessie Tobin, Jordyn Kossow & Brittney Wong The transition from high school to work or college is a critical turning point in a young person’s life. The challenges individuals might face during this time have been exacerbated by the …
Chartering Ways Forward: Educational Equity and Cultural Responsiveness
By Maria Khan & Dr. Kristen Wilcox The American Institutes for Research (AIR) Equity in Education initiative is supporting research-practice partnerships (including NYKids, Tech Valley High (TVH) and Chatham High School) to work on high leverage problems of practice focused …
NYKids at the 2022 AERA Conference Take Two: Reporting on NYKids Research-Practice Partnerships
By Kristen Wilcox This week, NYKids shares its work with Fort Plain Junior-Senior High School to address pandemic-related disruptions via its research-practice partnership at the American Educational Research Association’s Annual Conference in San Diego, CA. Meeting 21st Century Problems with …
NYKids at the 2022 AERA Conference
By Aaron Leo, Kristen Wilcox, and Jessie Tobin This week, NYKids Graduate Assistant and UAlbany Educational Policy and Leadership doctoral student Jessie Tobin presents findings from NYKids’ College and Career Readiness Study on peer relationships at the American Educational Research …
How are Educators Coping with Student Trauma in the New School Year?
By Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox Youths’ Mental Health and Trauma during the Pandemic As documented in previous NYKids blogs, students’ mental health and social-emotional wellbeing has become a top priority for educators across the country. While …
NYKids and UAlbany’s School of Education Diversity Task Force Present on Improvement Initiatives at This Year’s Carnegie Summit
By Jessie Tobin What role do higher education institutions play in diversifying the education workforce and ensuring students of all backgrounds feel belonging within their chosen fields in education? NYKids Director and Associate Professor Dr. Kristen C. Wilcox is a member …
Reflections on the 2022 NYKids Advisory Board Meeting
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Maria I. Khan On Monday, March 7, 2022, the NYKids team met with our Advisory Board members to share updates on NYKids’ core mission to Inform, Inspire, and Improve and to receive feedback on plans …
Addressing Mental Health in Rural Schools
By Jessie Tobin & Aaron Leo Supporting youths’ mental health has been a priority for school and district leaders for several years. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has exposed existing inequalities regarding access to mental health care and created new dilemmas. …
How Leaders Effectively Communicate Equity Priorities
By Hal Lawson and Francesca Durand Principals and district central officers are entrusted with an important, challenging mission. They and their respective workforces must ensure that all the children and youths in their care are provided with equitable opportunities to …
Methods Report for COVID Response Study Now Available
By, Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, Maria Khan, and Kristen C. Wilcox NYKids recently finished the first phase of our study entitled “Discovering Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education Workforce” in which we surveyed over 900 educators across New …
Partnering with a Purpose: Educational Equity and Cultural-Responsiveness
By Maria I. Khan & Kristen C. Wilcox As we announced in a recent blog, the American Institutes of Research (AIR) Equity in Education initiative is supporting research-practice partnerships (including NYKids) to work on high leverage problems of practice focused …
A New Year to Inform, Inspire, and Improve
by Kristen C. Wilcox Happy New Year! 2021 was a busy year for NYKids and we hope that 2022 will bring the spread of new innovations to tackle the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to all children, families, …
Year in Review: Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning
By Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to disrupt regular school operations into a third year, the mental health of “pandemic children” as well as social-emotional learning opportunities are chief concerns. In this blog, …
NYKids News: Themes and Reflections from 2021
By Jessie Tobin & Maria Khan During another year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NYKids team has been busy working alongside our partners to disseminate findings from our study, “Discovering Differential Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education …
Year in Review: Family and Community Engagement
by Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox Family and community engagement has been a high priority for NYKids since its inception in 2005. More recently, we noted in an article published in the School Community Journal the importance of family-school …
Elementary School Children’s Vaccines: A “Game Changer”?
By, Maria Khan, Aaron Leo, and Kristen C. Wilcox After all New York state schools shifted to remote instruction in March 2020, elementary school students were among the first to go back to in-person instruction. Most of these elementary school …
Supporting Students’ Mental Health and Mitigating Tensions Among Peers
by Jessie Tobin, Aaron Leo, and Kristen C. Wilcox After a tumultuous couple of years, most students and staff have now returned to mostly in-person learning. Moving forward, one particular challenge facing school leaders and educators is an uptick in …
Key Take-aways from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching on Networked Improvement Communities
By Kristen C. Wilcox and Maria Khan Recently NYKids team members attended the “Collaborative Learning and Technology in Networked Improvement Communities (NICs)” webinar hosted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Panelists included: Anthony S. Bryk, author of …
School Attendance and Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Aaron Leo Falling rates of student attendance in districts across the country have drawn attention from educators and policymakers. In this blog we discuss the importance of school attendance, the potential reasons behind the declining rates, and measures which …
Pandemic Children Learning “How to Do School” For the First Time
By Maria Khan & Aaron Leo There is an entire generation who will look back to themselves as “pandemic children” in the years to come. For many of them, this has been the first time they are in elementary classrooms …
Starting with Communication: Lessons for Leaders from Positive Outlier Schools
By Amanda Zullo Within each stage of NYKids research, the role of communication from the building and district leadership has been analyzed. Communication has been noted as influencing educators’ levels of stress and job satisfaction along with educators’ willingness and …
Next Stop: Focusing on School Bus Drivers
By Jessie Tobin More than one month into the 2021 – 2022 academic year, school personnel across the nation continue to grapple with pandemic-related challenges. One focus of attention is on the essential need to safely transport children and youth …
Celebrating the Achievements of the Minority Health Disparities Engaged Researchers Collaborative and Making Connections to NYKids Research on Human-Centered Design
By Kristen C. Wilcox A Milestone Luncheon celebrating the achievements of the Minority Health Disparities (MHD) Engaged Researchers Collaborative was held on September 24th in the University at Albany’s Assembly Hall. NYKids’ most recent research on differential impacts of the …
NYKids Advisory Board Subgroup Provides Feedback on Proposed Pandemic Response Phase Two Study
By Kristen C. Wilcox, Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, & Maria Khan On September 16th, a subgroup of NYKids Advisory Board members and NYKids researchers convened to discuss results from our Discovering Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education Workforce …
Effective Two-Way Communication Strategies for Student Success Post-Pandemic
by Maria Ishaq Khan Even after two years of pandemic disruptions and all the lessons learned throughout, the 2021-22 school year has been off to a rocky start with the delta variant casting a dark shadow on reopening plans. Already, …
Parent, Family, and Community Engagement: What the Latest Research Tells Us about The Importance of Using Effective Communication Strategies
By Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox As leaders and educators enter a third pandemic-disrupted school year, making schools places where young people have all of their variable needs met is a challenge heightened by the need for clear communications …
Preview of New Article on NYKids’ Research: College, Career and Civic Readiness: Building School Communities that Prepare Youth to Thrive as 21st Century Citizens
By Kristen C. Wilcox, Catherine Kramer, & Amanda Lester In the United States, advances in information technology, increasing competition in the global marketplace, and social unrest, rooted in longstanding opportunity inequities for people of color and those growing up in …
New NYKids Study Findings on Equitable Disciplinary Systems
By Catherine Guthrie In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, district and building leaders across the United States are tasked with reimagining what public education will look like for students when they come back to school this fall. With discussion …
NYKids Survey Results Show Collaboration Among Educators Weakened During Pandemic
By Aaron Leo, Kristen C. Wilcox, Lisa (Fang) Yu Introduction To gain a better understanding of educators’ experiences at work and feelings about their jobs, NYKids staff and research colleagues have designed and implemented a study to explore the effects …
Leaders’ Communications in Times of Crisis
By K. C. Wilcox “It takes both anticipation and resilience to manage unexpected disruptions, a combination that we call mindful organizing” (Weick & Sutcliffe, “Managing the Unexpected”, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic has created what Dr. Robert Griffin, Dean and Professor …
Educational Technology: Digital Learning and Teaching in the New Era
By Jessie Tobin Over the past two years, school professionals have been forced to navigate multiple disruptions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the challenges posed by the pandemic uniquely impacted each individual, all school personnel were tasked with embracing …
Preliminary Findings of NYKids’ COVID-19 Educator Survey Study
By Lisa Yu, Aaron Leo, and Kristen C. Wilcox The COVID-19 pandemic has added more stress to the already high-stress profession of teaching. In a recent study, nearly half the participants who voluntarily quit teaching indicated the pandemic as the …
NYKids Director Kristen Wilcox Participates in the Intelligent Community Forum
By, Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, and Kristen C. Wilcox On June 29, NYKids Director of Research and Development Kristen Wilcox participated in the Top7 Intelligent Communities Conference hosted by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). The ICF is a think tank …
Discovering Differential Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education Workforce
By Jessie Tobin, Kristen C. Wilcox, and Aaron Leo NYKids Research and Development Director and Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership at the University at Albany, Dr. Kristen C. Wilcox, recently presented at the June 28 Summer Symposium: Addressing …
Changes in Educators’ Attitudes toward Racial Inequality in Two Small City School Districts during COVID-19
By Dr. Kathryn Schiller & Beth Anne Horning Dr. Kathryn Schiller, a NYKids’ Co-investigator and Chair and Associate Professor in the Educational Policy and Leadership Department at University at Albany, along with doctoral student and research assistant Beth Anne Horning …
Summer Enrichment 2021: Supporting Children’s Social-Emotional Health
By Jessie Tobin, Aaron Leo, & Kristen C. Wilcox Making Social-Emotional Health a Priority As we covered in a previous blog, the pandemic has caused detrimental effects on some children’s academic learning, but also has affected the social-emotional development of …
Summer 2021 and Differential Impacts of “COVID Slide”
by Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, and Kristen C. Wilcox As the school year comes to a close and summer approaches, educators and researchers have already begun thinking about how to best prepare for school this fall. This blog explores research …
Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Planning to Mitigate Educator Stress
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Jessie Tobin For school and district leaders, the end of the 2020-21 school year may come with a combination of exhaustion and a sense of relief, but also foreboding. What can education leaders expect with …
Investigating Variable Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Educators
By Fang (Lisa) Yu, Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, & Kristen C. Wilcox The COVID-19 pandemic has added more stress to the already high-stress profession of educating children and youth. Unfortunately, the experiences of educators – including school instructional and support …
Leading Through Risk
By Brian Rhode and Kristen C. Wilcox The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged even the most experienced leaders to adapt and innovate and help others in their schools and districts to do the same. Looking ahead to the fall, re-opening schools …
Antiracist Practice in Word and Deed: Connecting Guest Speaker Ibram X. Kendi’s Scholarship and NYKids’ Positive Outlier Schools
By Jessie Tobin The University at Albany recently hosted a virtual seminar featuring bestselling author and antiracist scholar Ibram X. Kendi. Dr. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Director of the Center for Antiracist …
New NAEd Report Highlights Need for Civic Education
By Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox Civic education has become even more crucial in light of political and social upheavals around the world this year. To address the need to prepare young people to engage responsibly in civil society, …
New Initiative Aims to Improve College and Career Readiness in Rural Schools across New York State
A $1.5 million dollar college and career readiness program for rural schools throughout New York and Vermont was announced last week by College for Every Student (CFES) Brilliant Pathways, a non-profit organization based in Essex, New York. The program requires …
NYKids’ Carnegie Summit Presentation: Focusing on Lessons Learned about Continuous Improvement through the Pandemic
by Kristen C. Wilcox & Deborah Larrabee This Carnegie Foundation Summit presentation revisits Fort Plain Junior Senior High school which has partnered with NYKids for a number of years in using NYKids’ positive outlier/deviance research in com bination with improvement …
An Ecological View of Rural Student Aspirations
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox The American Educational Research Association’s Annual Meeting occurred over the past week in a virtual format due to the pandemic. As we described in last week’s blog the AERA annual meeting brings together …
Equity at the Center of District and School Leaders’ Discourses
By Kristen C. Wilcox It’s time again for the American Educational Research Association’s Annual Meeting. This conference brings together policymakers, researchers, and educators from around the globe to share research findings, connect with each other, and make progress toward improving …
Supporting Healthy Peer Relationships: Lessons from Positive Outlier Schools
By Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, & Kristen C. Wilcox Peer relationships are crucial influences in the lives of adolescents. While some studies have identified the ways in which negative peer interactions can harm young people’s self-esteem and academic performance, healthy …
Supporting Asian American Students and Families to Combat Anti-Asian Violence
By Lisa Yu Since last weekend, thousands of protestors rallied to “Stop Asian Hate” around the country, calling for an end to violence against Asian Americans. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, anti-Asian hate crimes …
Supporting Students’ Social-Emotional Health During Re-opening
By Aaron Leo, Jessie Tobin, & Kristen C. Wilcox The changes wrought by the pandemic have had drastic effects on the mental health of youth across the world. As previous NYKids blogs have noted, incidents of trauma have spiked among …
Diversifying the Education and Mental Health Workforce
By Tammy Ellis-Robinson, Jessie Tobin, & Kristen C. Wilcox In a recent blog, NYKids discussed the topic of diversity within the education and mental health counseling workforces and highlighted the positive impacts teachers and counselors of color have within K-12 …
Equity of Opportunity for Post-Secondary Education
By Jessie Tobin, Aaron Leo, & Kristen C. Wilcox Prospects of a brighter future are becoming clearer as another COVID-19 vaccine is approved and the arrival of spring is just around the corner. The anticipation to emerge from a global …
Diversifying the Education Workforce: Take-aways from NYKids Positive Outliers
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the majority of students attending public schools in the United States are children of color. Despite this increasing level of diversity among the student population …
Opportunities for Supporting Social-Emotional Learning in the Era of ESSA
By Lisa Yu In the past few decades, social-emotional health has been increasingly acknowledged as a top priority. Some organizations have put forward frameworks that outline tenets for taking a whole child approach. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn …
Uplifting the Voices of Students of Color Through Restorative Practices and Civic Engagement
By Jessie Tobin, Aaron Leo, & Kristen C. Wilcox On January 20th, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman delivered her inaugural poem to the nation and world. She reminded listeners of the power of young people’s voices and the importance of telling and …
K-12 School-Community Partnerships Foster Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Gayle Simidian, Ed.D., Research Analyst, New York State School Boards Association School-community partnerships are a form of educational resilience. These types of partnerships often fill a K-12 needs gap that may otherwise go unmet in school districts. The COVID-19 …
What About the Workforce?
By Hal A. Lawson Nearly every day the news media tells compelling stories about the status of one or more school districts and presents prospects for a return to “school-as-usual”. Three priorities are featured. First is schools’ essential contributions to …
The “Why?”, “Where?”, “Who?”, and “How?” of Investigating Young People’s Experiences
By Lisa Yu, Jessie Tobin, & Kristen C. Wilcox NYKids recently released the Methods and Procedures Report of the College and Career Readiness Student Study. As an addition to the cross-case report, this report describes the rationale behind the student …
NYKids Phase II Cross-case Report Now Available
By Kristen C. Wilcox, Aaron Leo, Lisa Yu, & Jessie Tobin We are pleased to announce that our new report entitled College and Career Readiness: Students’ Perspectives on Life After High School is now available on our website! Our new report …
New Research Findings on Promoting Civil Discourse and Civic Engagement from NYKids Positive Outlier Schools
By Kristen C. Wilcox, Catherine Kramer, and Amanda Lester “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. Democracy has to be born a new every generation, and education …
NYKids Convenes Advisory Board Members for Strategic Planning and Shares Newest Study Results
By Kristen C. Wilcox, Aaron Leo, Lisa Yu, & Jessie Tobin On December 2nd, NYKids Advisory Board members met virtually for a yearly strategic planning meeting. The NYKids Advisory Board has been in place since NYKids inception in 2005 and includes …
New NYKids Article Explores the Relationship Between Student and Teacher Agency
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox In educational research, the concept of agency has provided a valuable conceptual alternative to deterministic portrayals of schools as oppressive institutions where teachers and students have little power over how they teach and …
Bringing Indigenous Perspectives to Thanksgiving Day Lesson Plans
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, educators across the United States have the opportunity to explore Native American history with their students. Unfortunately, simplistic tales about the relationships of Native Americans and colonists still …
“Tighten Your Seatbelt”: Research and Resources for Managing COVID-19 Disruptions
By Kristen C. Wilcox Like a tornado, COVID-19 has shown itself to be a somewhat unpredictable and dangerous force of nature. And as one storm chaser in the thriller “Twister” recommended while a tornado approached and debris starting flying through …
Celebrating Veterans Day and Spotlighting Civic Oases in NYS Positive Outlier Schools
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Aaron Leo This Veterans Day, we take a moment to unpack the concept of “civic engagement”, reflect on the value of community and national service, and connect these topics to ways educators in positive outlier …
Civility and Civic Engagement: Reflecting and Connecting edTrends’ Nov. 4 Panel Discussion and Research from Odds-beating Schools
By Kristen C. Wilcox & Jessie Tobin On November 4th, the NYKids team attended an edTrends panel discussion on civil discourse and civic engagement. The panel participants offered their perspectives on the ways that educators can facilitate civil discourse that …
High Expectations and Student Motivation at Malverne Senior High School
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox This is the second in a series of blogs presenting our findings from the second phase of the College and Career Readiness Study focusing on students’ experiences and perspectives in two odds-beating schools. …
Rural Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborating for Continuous Improvement
by Kristen C. Wilcox & Jessie Tobin Educators in rural schools, like in other school contexts (Kerner & Hall, 2009; Sorensen & Fleming, 2004), are increasingly expected to use relevant research to guide school and district improvements and show measurable …
Want to Know How Kids Feel about Their Experiences in High School? New NYKids Study Findings on Student Voice from Malverne Senior High
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox As announced in recent blog posts, our NYKids team has just completed the second phase of the College and Career Readiness Study focusing on students’ perspectives on their high school experience at two …
Problem-Focused and User-Centered Designs in Research and Practice
By Jessie Tobin, Lisa Yu, & Kristen C. Wilcox In this blog, we highlight one of the six principles of Improvement Science; being problem-focused and user-centered. We connect it to NYKids improvement work and research with a few suggested strategies …
Recent NYKids Article Addresses the Latinx Attainment Gap
By Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox The Latinx student population residing in the United States tripled between 1980 and the end of the 20th century; currently one in four students in U.S. schools identify as Latinx (see chart below). …
Research Ethics: How to Listen to Kids and Do No Harm
By Jessie Tobin, Lisa Yu, and Kristen C. Wilcox Kids, as major stakeholders in their own educational experiences, have a lot to lose when they don’t have opportunities to voice their own opinions, take actions about things they care about, …
Reflecting on UAlbany’s English Language Learner-focused Community Conversations
By Lisa Yu and Kristen C. Wilcox While English language learners (ELLs), like their native English-speaking peers, have been receiving remote instruction for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects on ELL academic learning and social and emotional …
Spotlighting Cultural Responsiveness in Rural Positive Outlier Schools
by Aaron Leo & Kristen C. Wilcox Culturally Responsive Education in Rural Schools The last several decades have seen a growing recognition of the value of culturally responsive education (CRE) alongside research that has documented its effectiveness in addressing disparities …
Exploring the Role of Secondary Principal Leadership in Advancing the School Improvement Process
By April Prestipino Tools on Principal Leadership Actions In the 2012-2013 school year, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) deployed the Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness (DTSDE), to support low-performing schools (e.g., Focus Schools or Priority Schools) …
Student Agency: What’s Happening in Odds-beating Schools to Foster It?
By Lisa Yu, Kristen C. Wilcox, Aaron Leo Agency has become a popular topic in the educational research literature as its enhancement has been viewed as a way to empower young people to act on their own and others’ behalf. …
Improvement and Implementation Science and What They Have to Do with Continuous Improvement in Schools
by Kristen C. Wilcox School leaders and teachers need innovations that help them produce improvements that address the disparities of learning opportunities too many young people experience in K-12 schools. Innovative practices that re-center leaders’ and teachers’ attention on the …
“COVID melt” and The Value of Out of School Learning Experiences
by Kristen C. Wilcox As schools begin to reopen and after almost six months of varying degrees of closures in practically every segment of society across the United States, COVID melt has been a concern. While “COVID melt” (i.e. losses …
Continued Evidence that COVID-19 is Exacerbating Educational Inequality
by Aaron Leo In the last several months, researchers have begun to uncover evidence showing how COVID-19 school closures are causing disproportionate effects on students across the country. In many cases, these effects have exacerbated already existing inequalities along lines …
Reflections on Supporting ELLs’ Learning in the Covid-19 Era
by Lisa Yu As schools in New York state reopen in the fall whether using remote instruction or some hybrid model, ELL students will need to receive support again for their English language and content knowledge development. However, it is …
How Teacher Expectations Shape Student Performance
by Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox Decades of school reform have focused on teachers’ instructional practices. Many of the recommended changes have highlighted research on ”evidence-based” best practices that are gleaned from such sources as the What Works Clearinghouse. …
Preparing for an Uncertain Future Through Improvement Science: NYKids Offering July 29-30th Direct Support for Continuous Improvement
by Kristen C. Wilcox In a prior NYKids blog, we described how Improvement science (IS) serves as a resource for school and district leaders and staff to organize their improvement efforts around high leverage actions (i.e. those actions most likely …
The Trajectory of Graduation Rates in the College and Career Readiness Student Study
By Lisa Yu By July 2020, NYKids researchers will have completed all data collection for the College and Career Readiness student study that began in the fall of 2019. Based on others’ research as well as the first phase of …
Celebrating Independence Day with a Grand Vision for Public Education
by Aaron Leo As Independence Day approaches, we take the opportunity to reflect on the potential for education to fulfill the promise of democracy and equality laid out by the architects of the United States Constitution. This blog explores the …
Supporting ELL Students’ Remote Learning during the COVID-19 Shutdown
by Lisa Yu The COVID-19 induced school shutdown has left millions of teachers and students dependent on remote teaching and learning across the country. In response to the abrupt transition, the New York State Education Department has provided new guidance …
Realizing America’s Promise
by Hal A. Lawson Demography is not destiny, i.e., children’s circumstances at birth do not necessarily predict their outcomes as adults. This is America’s constitutional promise, and it applies to everyone, everywhere in the U.S. Our education systems are the …
COVID-19, School Closures, and Student Mental Health
by Aaron Leo Students’ mental health was already being recognized as a growing concern in the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic which has wreaked social and economic havoc across the country and the world. Now experts are just beginning …
Shifting from “Ways of Doing” to “Ways of Being”: Odds-beating High Schools and the Imperative for Cultural Responsiveness
by Kristen C. Wilcox, Rebecca Shea, and Catherine Kramer “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together” -Lila Watson (Indigenous Australian visual artist, activist and academic working in the …
Online Schooling and Closing the Homework Gap
By Aaron Leo Millions of public-school students across the country are now being educated remotely due to the social distancing measures brought on by the spread of COVID-19. The challenge of holding lessons online has highlighted unequal access to technology …
Technology to Achieve Teaching and Learning Goals: Highlighting Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School
By Lisa Yu In response to school closures due to COVID-19, educators around the world are looking for guidance in how to use technology in ways that keep students on track for high school graduation and prepared for college or …
Catalysts for Improvement in Positive Outlier Schools: Lessons about Innovation and Resilience in Tumultuous Times
by Kristen C. Wilcox The NYKids College and Career Readiness study identified “positive outlier” schools that consistently produced better-than-predicted graduation outcomes for diverse student sub-populations and did so over several years. New York State Regents and Advanced Regents diploma rates …
Technology to Support Learning: Highlighting Odds-beater Alfred-Almond Junior-Senior High School
By Kristen C. Wilcox While educators (including family members and other caretakers) look for ways to sustain learning opportunities during the COVID-19 school closures, Alfred-Almond Junior-Senior High School offers some insights. Alfred-Almond was one of seven schools identified for their …
Schools as “Undercover” Child Care and Family Support Systems
By Hal A. Lawson and Aaron Leo The late John Goodlad, internationally acclaimed educational renewal leader, once sparked controversy among members of the Leadership Academy for The National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) when he made the following claim: “Schools …
Supporting Literacy Instruction Remotely
By Stephanie Affinito, Ph.D., Clinical Teaching Faculty, Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning, University at Albany; saffinito@albany.edu Supporting Literacy Instruction Remotely Educators everywhere are shifting their instruction to online spaces to support their students’ learning remotely during these unprecedented times. …
20-20 NYKids Taking Stock: Supporting ELLs and Preparing Them for College or Career
By Lisa Yu Through this third installment in the NYKids 20-20 blog series, we look back at 15 years of NYKids’ research in schools across New York State to revisit past findings from odds-beating schools and explore how educators support …