Program areas at Center for Educational Innovation
Public School Consulting - includes customized services, technical assistance, school improvement planning and implementation, leadership development and content area support to superintendents, school leaders, teacher teams, coaches, teachers, and all members of the school community. By design, with alignment to the mission, with a renewed focus on equity and innovation, experienced team members work to build capacity to create the model schools their children need to succeed. Service is delivered in a multitude of modalities including mentoring and coaching, facilitated professional learning in small and large groups, modeling and delivering leadership development and pedagogical support in all content areas to ensure for improved teaching and learning with measured improvements in student achievement and all areas of the school community.
CEIs Education Through Art (ETA) program was funded by an Assistance for Arts Education Development and Dissemination (AAEDD) $2.5M four-year grant awarded in 2018 by the Office of Innovation and Improvement of the United States Department of Education. ETA was a program that utilized visual art and music as effective instructional strategies to directly teach ELA and Math while strengthening social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. The program served grade 3-5 students with disabilities and their teachers in NYC School District 75. The program tailored all lessons, materials, and resources to the specific needs of each classroom to serve a wide range of students - from those with cognitive challenges who are alternately assessed, to those with emotional and behavioral challenges who take standardized assessments. The program included in-class student instruction, professional learning workshops, coaching and modeling, the compilation of a digital resource of lessons, curriculum maps, and embedded schedules. The external found statistically significant results regarding student and teacher outcomes.
Other programs - include school improvement activities through our field support services, grant funded academic and enrichment services such as NYC Immigrant and CASA funded enrichment and NYC DYCD Summer Rising, which are all consistent with the mission of the Organization. The Organization is now a lead agency with contracts for two NYC Community Schools. This citywide school improvement strategy supports ensuring all students are ready to learn with before, during and after school services delivered by the lead agency, community partners and the school community. This organization's mission is aligned to this initiative and with a focus on academic improvement, provides comprehensive support in all areas, aligned with the traditional school day, coordinating all programs and services, and infuses its philosophy, with a focus on equity and innovation, to develop model community schools in all neighborhoods. The Community Schools program supports the whole child and the childs family, with learning both inside and outside of the classroom. The Organization supports the staffing to identify and coordinate all partnerships, delivery of direct academic and enrichment service including elements of Project BOOST, professional learning for school staff as well as all partners and their staff, the greater school community including parents. The lead agency works to seamlessly bridge the school day with before, during, and after school support to the entire school community with strong measurable outcomes in all areas of child development, community, family engagement and academic achievement. This is a multi-year contract with the NYC Department of Education with potential for growth in the future.1) META/Meridian - CEIs Meridian (formerly META) program is funded by an Assistance for Arts Education (AAE) $6M five-year grant awarded in 2021 by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education of the United States Department of Education. Meridian is a professional learning program for K-5 teachers of students with disabilities in New York City (NY), Rochester (NY), San Juan (PR), Baltimore (MD) and Bridgeport (CT). The program builds on the success of the Organizations ETA program and expands its scope by utilizing an art integrated, differentiated curriculum, and providing teachers with workshops, PLC sessions and modeling. The curriculum includes innovative projects in music and visual art that teach literacy and math and strengthen SEL skills. There are six versions of every project and materials include, curriculum maps, lessons, implementation slide decks, modeling videos, resources, and materials, and supporting documents. Meridian also includes (1) training classroom teachers to be teacher leaders in arts integration and to facilitate PLC sessions; (2) hosting national annual conferences to disseminate the work; and (3) building a digital repository of all curricular materials. 2) Charter Schools - Given the history of the Organization and its founders influence in the development of Charter School Law, Charter School Support remains one of the main programs of the Organization.Following several cycles of federal funding sunsetting, the Organization continues to support charter Boards and school leaders via school-based contracts and grant funding to become highly effective and grow successful charter schools in three key areas:Educational SuccessOrganizational SoundnessFaithfulness to Charter and LawWith alignment to the mission and continued focus on school transformation, the Organization continues to support the development of new charters, lead the renewal of charters, and explore and lead the expansion of charter schools. The Organization continues its support of struggling charter schools with school improvement planning and implementation. With several long-term whole school reform projects and multiple short-term engagements, the Organization continues its focus on leadership development, supporting improved performance as well as compliance with autonomy to achieve continuous academic improvement with alignment to public school accountability in all areas. The Organizations team of experts work closely with Charter School leadership and Boards in all areas of the NYS performance framework: student performance, teaching and learning, culture, climate and student and family engagement, financial condition, financial management, Board oversight and governance, organizational capacity, mission and key design elements, enrollment, retention and retention, and legal compliance.