NYKids Releases Odds-beating College and Career Readiness Study at Winter Advisory Board Meeting
BY Kristen Wilcox, Director of Research and Development, and Catherine Kramer, Research Assistant
NYKids released the findings from the Odds-beating College and Career Readiness study during a convening of the Advisory Board on December 4th hosted by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The NYKids Advisory Board is comprised of a number of representatives from state-wide organizations and several were in attendance including the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA); New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS); Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA); New York State Education Department (NYSED); and the School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS).
The event was led by Kristen Wilcox, Director of Research and Development for NYKids; Dr. Nancy Zimpher, State University of New York Chancellor Emeritus; and Dr. Jason Lane, Interim Dean of the School of Education at the University at Albany.
In addition, special guests in attendance included Dr. Mitchell Combs (odds-beating school principal – Port Chester HS); Dr. Steve Coelen (Managing Partner and Senior Trade Specialist and Economics Advisor at Wiser Trade and designer of NYKids companion website- Know Your Schools for NYKids); and the leadership team from Fort Plain Central School District, which participated in a research-practice partnership called COMPASS-AIM with NYKids and CASDA (Fort Plain team led by Superintendent Dr. Dave Ziskin; Jr. Sr. HS Principal Deb Larrabee; and Harry Hoag ES Principal Lauren Crisman).
The meeting addressed all three goals of NYKids “Inform, inspire, and improve” mission.
Informing: At the meeting Dr. Kristen C. Wilcox (NYKids Director and Associate Professor) and Dr. Steve Coelen shared enhancements to the Know Your School database including graduation rates, Regents, and Advanced Regents. See http://knowyourschoolsny.org
Inspiring: The NYKids team including co-investigators Hal Lawson (UAlbany) and Francesca Durand (the Sage Colleges) shared findings from the most recent NYKids study of odds beating secondary schools. These schools exceed predictions at graduating African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, English language learners and/or economically disadvantaged students.
Odds-beating secondary schools share these four unique qualities:
- Co-Constructing a Humanizing School Environment
- Collaboratively Defining and Achieving Success
- Cultivating Culturally-responsive and Inclusive Leadership
- Customizing Innovative Programs and Practices
The discussion featured Dr. Combs, principal of Port Chester Senior High School, who described some of the ways educators at Port Chester create a welcoming climate for diverse youth and the measures they have taken to remove barriers to all students pursuing advanced coursework in the high school.
Improving: The meeting wrapped up with testimonials from Fort Plain Central School District representatives about the positive impacts of COMPASS-AIM, (a continuous improvement process and set of tools used in collaboration with school-based teams, NYKids researchers, and CASDA facilitators) including how educators are addressing the needs of trauma-impacted youth, as well as improving literacy instruction. Contact NYKids staff for more information and read about COMPASS-AIM, here.
