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 support. The Advisory Board has always been a partner with NYKids and includes representatives of the following organizations:
Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA)
New York State Association of Career and Technical Education (NYSACTE)
New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS)
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)
School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS)
University at Albany School of Education
New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA)*
The Rural Schools Association of New York
NYKids Research Updates
During the meeting, our team shared highlights from our 20th Anniversary Study of Emergent and Persistent Positive Outlier Schools: What Accounts for Better Student Outcomes Over Time? This study came to be in response to the growing interest of our stakeholders in understanding what supports adaptation and innovation in schools over time. This topic is especially timely in an era of external shocks to school systems (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic and policy changes) and community demographic shifts. As our team aimed to investigate what sustains schools’ significantly better outcomes over time, we revisited the schools we have previously investigated through NYKids research. We discussed with our advisory. Board some discoveries regarding our overarching question:
What accounts for New York State’s persistent and emergent positive outlier schools’ comparatively better outcomes for culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse youth over time?
Notable Themes from Persistent and Emergent Positive Outlier Schools:
- Building and Rebuilding Positive Relationships
- Enhancing Competency-based and Affinity-based Curriculum and Instruction
- Flattening, Steadying, and Stabilizing Leadership
- Structuring Components of a Learning Organization into the Fabric of the School
NYKids School Improvement Updates
Additionally, we shared the status of our latest partnership work through our COMPASS Continuous Improvement workshops. This past year we have had the pleasure of working with school improvement leaders from Oriskany CSD, Whitesboro CSD, HFM BOCES/OESJ, and Wynantskill Union Free School District.
If you are interested in participating in our COMPASS institutes, please contact us at 518-442-5171, or email us at nykids@albany.edu.
NYKids Dissemination Updates
Our team was thrilled to share our latest articles and briefs that were published in 2024, as well as the presentations and workshops we had the opportunities to lead this past year.
NYKids continues to be thankful for the support of our partners and audience – and we were excited to share with our advisory board a snapshot of our website analytics, noting increasingly active website engagement from around the world!
Next Steps
NYKids is pleased to report on some exciting follow-up opportunities and suggestions from our Advisory Board members.
NYKids Director Kristen C. Wilcox will be presenting research findings in March, 2025 at the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS) Winter Institute with Drs. Lorna Lewis and Vincent Romano from Malverne Union Free School District!
With guidance from Maggie Moree (CVS Health) NYKids will be creating a Podcast series for 2025. Stay tuned! We thank Sheila Seery (UAlbany Public Engagement) for reminding us of an episode of the Engagement Ring podcast featuring NYKids team members Aaron Leo and Kristen C. Wilcox.
Lastly, we look forward to the opportunity to meet with Advisory Board members Maggie Moree, Chuck Dedrick, and Ken Slentz in coming months to discuss the design of the next NYKids study
As always, thank you for your support of NYKids’ and for sharing our blogs and resources widely in your networks. Please check out our website research results for case studies of persistent and emergent positive outlier schools and stay tuned for the release of our Cross-case Report!
You can also keep up with our research through X, Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram and email us with any questions at nykids@albany.edu.
