Reframing Education: The Partnership Strategy and Public Schools

Aims to explore, record, and glean lessons from the New Century High Schools initiative and partnership strategy, which transforms low performing high schools in New York City into campuses of small autonomous schools featuring community partnerships.

• Successful Strategy: Effective collaborations between DOE staff, teachers, and organizational partners have added greater resources, new approaches to teaching and learning, and professional development to the program. Tweet
• Successful Strategy: It has become clear over time that the partnership strategy acts as a lever for reform. School-level partnerships require a reframing of the methods and content -- that is, the means and meaning -- of high school education. Tweet
• Observation: Principals and involved organizational staff members find themselves at times in the role of an intermediary link between the school and the organizational partner. The ability to look in two directions helps facilitate the partnership, but it also adds complexity to staff members' roles. Tweet
• Observation: All involved staff are dealing with challenges, glitches, and unexpected consequences as they experience pressure to get things going in the initial stages of the program. Tweet