The Real-Time Scaling Lab for New York City Public Schools

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    Scaling Overview 

    Scaling effective education practices reduces policy churn, closes the equity gap, aids in school improvement, and ameliorates poverty.

    The Challenge 

    Many effective education practices work at a small scale, but this does not often translate to the large-scale, systemic change needed to improve learning around the world.

    The Real-Time Scaling Lab for New York City Public Schools (NYCPS)

    The Real-Time Scaling Lab for NYCPS supports districts and schools as they adapt and scale up lessons from elsewhere into their own contexts and settings.

    Core Pillars of the Real-Time Scaling Lab

    To build scaling know how across NYCPS, the Real-Time Scaling Lab undertakes the following pillars of work:

    Capturing 

    • The RTSL tells the story of the scaling journey of an education practice through different mediums:
      • Multi-episode docuseries that align to the scaling. Spanning months or years, the stories unfold over multiple episodes and are told from the perspectives of NYCPS educators and practitioners.
      • RTSL will develop multimedia case studies

    Sharing

    • The RTSL also shares information and scaling know-how via broader education networks to raise awareness and spotlight the impactful scaling work that NYCPS is doing in schools, districts, and across the school system.

    Multi-Episode Docuseries on Scaling in Education Across NYCPS

    Scaling Docuseries #1 

    NYC Reads: A Scaling Story in Community School District Description: Tells the story of scaling up NYC Reads to boost literacy in District 1. The story is told from the perspective of the Community School District 1 Superintendent and team, principals, teachers, students, parents, and researchers, advocates, elected officials, and policymakers.  

    Season 1 Episode 1: The Winning Coalition Description: Key stakeholders share perspectives on NYC Reads and why the initiative is a game changer for the City’s youth and families.  ( Click here ) 

    Teaser to Episode 1: Description: this social media post teases the debut of the docuseries. (Click Here)

    Scaling Docuseries #2 

    Post-Pandemic Recovery: Building Student Success Systems in Community School District3   Description: Tells the story of scaling up of student success systems and artificial intelligence to aid in post-pandemic academic recovery and school improvement in District 3. The story is told from the perspective of District 3 Superintendent team, principals, teachers, students, parents, policymakers, Artificial Intelligence experts, practitioners from the Grad Partnership, and Robert Balfanz with the Everyone Graduates Center.  

    Teaser to docuseries #2: Description: this social media post teases the debut of the docuseries. (Click Here)

    Multi-Media Case Studies On Scaling Education Practices Across NYCPS

    Case Study #1: NYC Reads: A Scaling Story in Community School District 1  

    In 2023, New York City launched a major, citywide campaign to boost literacy for all students after years of little progress. Called NYC Reads, the initiative required each of its 32 community school districts to choose one of three “science of reading,” phonics-based curriculums. 

    The Office of Knowledge Management’s Real-Time Scaling Lab is producing a series of videos exploring how District 1 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is scaling up New York City Reads during the 2024-25 school year. 

    The first episode focuses on the district’s work to develop a winning coalition of school leaders, educators, students, parents, researchers, advocates, elected officials, and policymakers to support the efforts to scale up NYC Reads. Here are four takeaways: 

    1. Create a districtwide listening tour to gather feedback from across all stakeholders

    Result: During 2023-24, parents, students, teachers, principals, community members, and advocates met with the leaders of District 1 to share their perspectives on NYC Reads, which yielded a consensus behind the selection of EL Education for the District. 

    2.   Make explicit for students and parents the connection between the curriculum and their own lived experience. 

    Result: Students attending school more often because they’ve bought into what they’re learning in the classroom.​

    3. Use “lab sites” to demonstrate NYC Reads in action. 

    Result: Generates excitement across key stakeholders (school leaders, educators, staff) for what’s to come and equips all with an NYC Reads implementation toolkit. 

    4. Engage teachers early and often in the ramp up of NYC Reads and provide them with support along the way. 

    Result: Builds teacher confidence, creates community, and shores up their buy-in for the initiative. 

    Get Involved

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