Research and Policy Studies

Our research and policy studies:

  • Identify educational policies and practices that redress resource inequities and improve outcomes for students whom public schools have traditionally undeserved.
  • Investigate organizing and engagement strategies and their contributions to effective schools and improved student outcomes.
  • Explore how organizing and engagement efforts to improve urban public schools build democratic participation and social capital.

We engage school and community constituencies in defining critical policy and research issues and analyzing research findings. Our research integrates qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and draws upon national and local databases to address issues central to educational improvement. We disseminate our work to a range of audiences, including schools, community-based organizations, educational policy makers, foundations, and the scholarly community.

Our work focuses on three critical questions:

  • Which educational policies and practices promote greater educational opportunity and improved educational outcomes for low-income urban students of color?
  • How is capacity for successful student learning developed within schools, districts, and communities, and which strategies and processes are critical to this development?
  • How does the engagement and organizing of youth, parents, and community members increase community social capital, and which developmental processes and organizational practices are critical to this development?

Below we list current and recent studies, with links to data presentations where available. For published papers and reports on these studies, please visit our publications page.

Studies In Progress:

Educational Policies & Practices:

  • Resource Distribution

    Geographic Distribution of Educational Success and Failure in New York City

    Deinya Phenix, principal investigator

    This quantitative analysis examines intra-district disparity between schools and the relationship between school performance and geographic location in New York City.

    Related Materials: paper presentation

  • School Governance and Accountability

    Outcomes of Mayoral Control of Schooling in New York City

    Norm Fruchter, principal investigator
    Sara McAlister

    A study of the reform interventions and the outcomes of Children First, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Kline's systemic restructuring of the New York City school system.

    Related Materials: paper

  • School Safety and Discipline

    Impacts of New York City's School-Based Crime Prevention and Discipline Strategies

    Deinya Phenix, principal investigator

    This analysis examines the results of New York City's Impact School Safety initiative, an extensive collaboration between the Department of Education, New York City Police Department, and the juvenile court system.

    Inside Successful School Safety Models

    Christina Mokhtar, principal investigator
    Deinya Phenix, Tara Bahl, Udi Ofer, Angela Jones, Chloe Dugger, Johanna Miller, & Chase Madar

    In collaboration with the NY Civil Liberties Union and Make the Road NY, this study will look at examples of NYC schools with successful school safety models that rely on positive rather than punitive school safety and discipline measures. We will profile schools based on interviews with administrators, teachers, students, school safety agents, and parents around staffing and agency collaboration, discipline policies and practices, security polices and practices, and other school culture factors. These successful schools will be compared to schools with punitive school safety and discipline measures.

    Life Without Lockdown

    Deinya Phenix, principal investigator
    Chase Madar & John M. Beam

    Despite the prevalence of zero tolerance discipline policies, some schools in New York City have succeeded in improving safety and discipline without punitive measures.

    Related Materials: article

    School to Prison Pipeline Mapping for Action Project

    Deinya Phenix, principal investigator

    The School to Prison Pipeline Map is a broad coalition of organizations wishing to document in detail the system of school-related policies and practices in New York City that directly or indirectly contribute to youth involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Our work includes policy advocacy, direct legal services, impact litigation, social science research and grassroots organizing. S2PMAP will comprehensively delineate what we refer to as the “School to Prison Pipeline” in order for advocates and community members to collaborate strategically and effectively on its dismantling and to institute solutions that maximize the potential of students to succeed in school and beyond.

    Related Materials: paper

Community organizing & engagement

  • Community Engagement in Providence

    Carol Ascher, principal investigator
    Richard Gray & Lamson Lam

    This case history documents the work of the Providence Educational Excellence Coalition (PEEC) and its involvement in the redesign of Hope High School. Funded by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

  • Organizing Impact Study

    Kavitha Mediratta & Seema Shah, principal investigators
    Sara McAlister, Christina Mokhtar, Norm Fruchter, Barbara Gross,
    Cate Swinburn, Anna Reeve, Angelica Crane & Nadine Dechausay

    Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, this six-year study examines the school reform campaigns of eight community and youth organizing groups to assess the impact of their work on school capacity and student achievement. Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Completed Studies:

Educational policies & practices

  • Charter Schools

    Compensation and Community in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools

    Carol Ascher, principal investigator
    Deinya Phenix & Michael Luekens

    Using the US Department of Education´s Schools and Staffing Survey, this analysis examines how traditional public school and charter school teachers view compensation and community factors in their schools.

    Related Materials: paper

  • College Pathways

    Beat the Odds

    Carol Ascher, principal investigator
    Cindy Maguire

    This qualitative study examines the practices of thirteen high schools that have developed effective pathways to college, particularly for low-income students of color in New York City. Funded by

    Related Materials: paper

  • Educating Homeless Students

    Strategies to Improve Data Collection on New York's Homeless Students

    Carol Ascher, principal investigator
    Christina Mokhtar & Carolyn Jarvis

    Conducted at the request of the New York State Education Department this study investigates barriers to identifying homeless students in local districts and how these barriers might be surmounted. It also analyzes ways in which the state's processes for collecting data on homeless students might be improved.

    Related Materials: paper

    Delivering Educational Services to Students Experiencing Homelessness

    Carol Ascher, principal investigator
    Deinya Phenix

    In behalf of New York State's Technical and Educational Assistance Center for homeless students (NYS-TEACHS), we designed and conducted surveys of homeless liaisons and other school staff involved in serving homeless students. Funded by Advocates for Children.

    Related Materials: paper presentation