Aaron Leo

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 […]

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 […]

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 A […]

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 […]

Inclusive and Safe School Climates: School Climate in One of New York’s Safest Schools (Part 2) By David Hurst, Ph.D, Deputy Superintendent of Bethlehem Central School District This is Part 2 of our blog series (see Part 1 here) on the importance of […]

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 schoo […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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? […]

Using Data for Continuous Improvement with the New and Improved NYKids Performance Tracker Tool  By Maria I. Khan and Kristen C. Wilcox “We cannot improve at scale what we cannot measure.” – Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teach […]

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 […]