Current events and perspectives from the Eskolta team
Eskolta Expands Impact to California with Statewide Community Engagement Initiative
After establishing itself for a decade on the East Coast, Eskolta School Research & Design heads west to expand its impact through a statewide community initiative in California. The Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) is part of California’s Statewide System of...
There’s No “Normal”
We asked our school partners what they need this year...here’s what they said. As an organization that works to support educators and school leaders on everything from leadership development to culturally responsive sustaining practices, it’s critical that we pay...
Designing for the Future of Eskolta
At Eskolta, we believe in the power of design thinking. We use a researcher’s mindset and designer’s approach to engage schools and districts in continuous improvement projects and intentionally problem solve. Significant aspects of this type of thinking involve an...
Eskolta Fellows: Impact and Community since 2015
Since 2015, the Eskolta School Improvement Fellows Program has supported and trained 101 fellows in four key areas: leadership, community, critical conversations about equity and race, and designing change in schools. The work of the Fellows Program mirrors the work...
A New Approach to Inquiry: Students As Co-researchers
“Our education system is not perfect. It’s a work in progress, and I appreciate Eskolta for acknowledging that and our schools for acknowledging that and making it better, and taking the time, because this work is not easy.”Landmark High School alum Titilayo Aluko...
Dismantling Traditional Educational Molds: Lessons from Alternative Schools
"It wasn’t until high school, after changing high schools three times, that I ended up at City-As-School, a transfer or alternative school in New York City. City-As-School’s welcoming environment allowed me to have a place to heal. I was finally met with supportive...
How They Thrive: A Conversation On The Impact of Transfer Schools
On May 9th, Eskolta held an online presentation and panel discussion on our mixed-methods study How They Thrive: Lessons from New York City Alternative School Alumni. With over 100 attendees from high schools, districts, universities, nonprofits, and community-based...
Alternative Schools Graduate Underserved Students At Higher Rates; New Study from Eskolta Examines Why
For Immediate Release Contact: Celia Alicata | celia@brightergood.com How They Thrive: Lessons from Students in New York City’s Alternative Transfer High Schools Elevates the Voices of Alumni to Shed Light on Lessons for All Public Schools (April 11, 2022 — New York...
Eskolta Poised for Growth in Boston and Washington, DC and Adds New Leadership
Organization Elevates its Capacity To Better Serve Schools, Systems, and Communities Media Inquiries: Celia Alicata | celia@brightergood.com (New York, NY — January 13, 2022) — Eskolta School Research and Design now works in three major regions across the U.S.,...
Reflections on 2020-21: Our Journey Towards Becoming an Anti-Racist Organization
It is a simple but devastating truth that our education system was designed to fail Black and brown students. Systemic racism and the trauma it causes holds our students back—and it’s past time for meaningful change. At Eskolta, we recognize that the work of...
Welcoming our New Executive Director Dr. Nada Ahmed
Teacher. Researcher. Leadership coach. Racial justice facilitator. Dr. Nada Ahmed brings a wealth of experience to the education field as both a leader and partner. Now, she’s taking on a new exciting role: Eskolta’s new executive director! We’re thrilled to welcome...
The Eskolta Network: Exploring the Student Experience
At VOYAGES Preparatory High School, a transfer school in Queens, participation in the Eskolta Network injected a brand-new approach to improving student learning: inviting students to participate as collaborators. The Network team was initially curious to learn about...
A Conversation on Alternative Accountability
“My last school, it was about 4,000 kids. I had no relationships with my teachers; matter of fact, the school was so big that when I was absent for so long no one even noticed,” recounted transfer school student Joshua Applewhite at an online panel last December. “So...
Eskolta Announces Transformative Changes, Launch of Executive Leadership Search
Eskolta is excited to announce the launch of our search for new executive leadership. We will be partnering with Positively Partners, an executive search firm, to begin identifying candidates for the Executive Director position over the coming months....
Standing with Transfer Schools – #SaveLTW
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of people came out to fight for Learning to Work (LTW), one of the most successful programs for re-engaging high schoolers who have dropped out or fallen behind. At Eskolta we know firsthand how important LTW is in removing barriers...
Black Lives Matter
Over the past few weeks and months, we have watched the tragedy of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and George Floyd be compounded by white supremacy in our institutions—police, district attorneys, courts—which have sought to...
Student-Led Action Research
“[This project] helped me with my growing, my team-leadership skills. It has definitely opened me up with feeling confident about making changes at my school.”When City-As-School student Nicholas Cannon was first searching for a summer internship in 2020, he wanted an...
Responding to Changing Needs During the COVID-19 Crisis
Supporting Educators in the Coming Months In response to school closures in NYC and Boston and other emergency measures being taken at the city, state, and national level to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Eskolta is taking the following steps to protect our collective...
Eskolta Selected for $15 Million Grant to Establish the Eskolta Network
“For years, Eskolta's partnership with transfer schools has helped our school leaders, teachers, counselors, and students to engage overage, under-credited students. The Eskolta Network has the potential to make a real impact in our schools and in schools...
The Four Ingredients to Transforming Learning
I have walked into hundreds of classrooms in the last two decades. Picture two of them. In one, let’s call it the Interactive Classroom, the teacher moderates a student debate on whether it’s ethical to use DNA tests in family planning. In another, let’s call it the...
2019 Transfer School Conference Highlights
"Dr. Kirkland was awesome and inspiring! His speech on his transformative experience from childhood to adulthood was surreal and, beyond what I expected. Through Dr. Kirkland's brilliant presentation I learned about the power of being culturally competent, and how...
Four Insights on How to Make Lesson Study Work at Your School
Teaching doesn’t have to be a lonely act. In fact, multiple studies have found that collaborative teaching actually improves student success and leads to a stronger school culture. For East Brooklyn Community High School (EBCHS), a transfer school in Brownsville,...
When Accountability Systems Miss the Mark
Six weeks ago, New York State identified one out of every four New York City transfer schools for Comprehensive School Improvement, a designation for struggling schools that requires them to implement a change plan to reach certain benchmarks. But the accountability...
Building a Community of Sharing: Lesson Study at Murray Hill
“It brought us together in a way that I’ve never seen before. When we’re all co-invested in a project or a lesson, the buy-in is there and we all want it to succeed.... This is such a good way to collaborate.”Too much teaching happens in isolation. A central aim of...
Eskolta’s Second Annual Change Makers Reception
“When I think about what the Eskolta community is and what it means for kids and communities… it is life-saving work. It is the difference for young people between a life of opportunity or a life of poverty. It is the difference for our communities between a future of...
Sparking an Interest in Student Mindsets and Watching It Grow
Every year, when confronted with the state exams, I.S. 126 Albert Shanker School for Visual and Performing Arts in Queens faced the same problem: students would give up before finishing. The problem with persistence and fear of challenge had become so great that...
Transfer School Accountability: Fairer Metrics for Alternative Schools
"Government accountability systems too often rush into assessing transfer schools by making a few tweaks to high school measures, an approach that inevitably over-identifies failure and under-identifies success, or simply gets it wrong." New York State Commissioner...
Developing a Sense of Belonging through Internships at Flushing International High School
When Gaby, a junior at Flushing International High School, was first assigned to interview her mentor at her internship, she hesitated and asked if she could interview another intern, saying Maria was “too busy and important.” But upon interviewing Maria, Gaby was...
The Turnaround: An Interview with Transfer School Alumnus Orlando Ramos
"I remember, I got to IDP and they asked me, 'What do you want to do?' I was like, 'Oh, I matter now! I exist! This is cool!' They didn’t do that in my old school… Now I had people stop me in the hall and say, 'You have such a good track record. You need to keep it...
Bringing Research to the Classroom
“It brought a whole new layer to our work and really deepened our thinking. Instead of just saying to kids, ‘Well, work harder. Do more work,’ we actually had ways to think about this – ‘Is this work valuable to students? Do they feel like they belong in class? What’s...
The Turnaround: An Interview with Transfer School Alumna Patricia Lucas
“The teachers would sit me down and say, 'You have someone depending on you.' It’s hard… You’re in a dark place and dealing with so many things in life, and people are telling you what you need to do—it can get annoying. But it is also good. It made me realize that...
Engaging Students in the Development of Their Own Growth Mindsets for Career Readiness
How can schools help students develop a mindset that will support perseverance and lead to long-term career success? During the 2015–16 school year, the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Readiness (OPSR) partnered with Eskolta to launch the Career Competency Fellows program that brought together a select group of eleven educators from schools exhibiting a promising approach to career development for all students.
Honoring Those Changing Education in NYC
“For far too long, the debate in education focused on the supposed deficiencies of the students who walk through the doors, instead of putting the focus where it belongs—on the schools. Schools need to know what their students need to be successful, and then create...
Building Value for Learning at High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology
Mounting evidence educational psychology research indicates that when students see the value of their schoolwork—how it relates to what they care about and can help them reach their goals—they become more interested in their classes and motivated to take on...
An Interview with High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology Alumnus and English Teacher, Matthew Raphaelson
“What is it about what we are doing that is not reaching those students’ needs? How do we address those kids that keep us up at night?” This fall, 12 school teams from across New York City will come together for their first convening on October 11 as part of the...
Lessons from Metropolitan Diploma Plus: Higher-Order Thinking through Daily Academic Discussion
“The tools and strategies we developed and piloted have ensured that our students become stronger readers, writers, and thinkers.” What gets students more invested in their own learning? Many schools struggle to help students remain engaged in school, especially when...
Lessons from Bronx Arena: Improving Student Outcomes through Mastery-Based Learning
Why take on mastery-based learning? Success in college and beyond depends not only on a student’s skills and content knowledge, but also in her ability to independently take ownership over her learning. However, even for the most vigilant student or teacher, it can be...
Beyond Incentives: Three Years of Cultivating Teacher Leadership in Career Pathways
“I feel a lot of ownership in this school because I do feel like my work really matters here and makes a difference.” Teacher leaders can be powerful levers for school change. Yet in many districts, talented teachers must look outside the classroom to find positions...
Transfer School Conference 2017 Highlights
“The advocacy work of transfer schools goes beyond being in the classroom and running schools. Being in a transfer school means consistently being a revolutionary about the work.” On June 8, 2017, more than 950 district and organizational leaders, teachers, students,...
Lessons from North Queens Community High School: Strengthening Student Persistence in Mathematics and Beyond
Mathematics can be a challenging subject, especially for students who have fallen behind in school. When faced with difficult math problems, students may freeze up or express defeatist attitudes such as, “I’m just not a math person.” But a growing body of educational...
Eskolta Book Club: Reflections on the Challenge of Equity in Schools
It can be a challenge for any educator to navigate the diversity of experiences, cultures, and learning that students bring to their school environments, but doing so is an essential part of helping students develop a sense of belonging in school. Eskolta teams have...
Preparing Students for Their Future Careers through the Career Counseling Initiative
How can schools help students prepare for their future careers? Some schools have established promising practices to help students develop career readiness, but often this information is not documented or shared with other schools. This year, Eskolta is working with...
Connecting and Sharing at the Transfer School Conference: A Conversation with Kevin Daniels, Learning to Work Program Manager and Conference Advisor
This June 8, more than 1,000 educators from 36 schools will attend the seventh annual NYC Transfer School Conference in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. An initiative of the NYC Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Readiness in partnership with Eskolta,...
Eskolta’s 2016 Annual Report
We are excited to announce the release of Eskolta’s 2016 annual report. This report shares the details of our continued and growing impact working with reflective and empowered educators to solve problems collaboratively and spearhead meaningful change. In 2016, we...
Eskolta Celebrates Art of NYC Transfer School Students
On December 8, Eskolta welcomed teachers, counselors, students, and their family members to the Eskolta Transfer School Student Art Gala, an evening dedicated to celebrating the hard work and artistic talents of transfer school students. The show featured paintings...
The 2016–17 Advanced Academic and Personal Behaviors Institute
How can we help students to adopt strategies for keeping their head up when they want to shut down? This is the question that NYC teachers and counselors in the 2016–17 Advanced Academic and Personal Behaviors Institute are tackling. We all know the feeling of...
Lessons from Bronx Haven: How can feedback strategies support student learning?
Placing Student Feedback at the Center of Teaching and Learning: A School Redesign Model based on the work of Bronx Haven High School Teachers know how important feedback is for the learning process. Students need more than a simple test score if they are going...
A Conversation with Adonia Dale, Eskolta Transfer School Alumni Fellow
In September, Adonia Dale joined Eskolta as our first ever Transfer School Alumni Fellow, a one-year office position created specifically for recent transfer school graduates to gain experience in the workplace. Adonia is a recent graduate of Metropolitan Diploma Plus...
The Road to Standards-Based Grading Schoolwide
There are many steps that go into the development of a schoolwide standards-based grading system. At Murray Hill Academy, the Eskolta team has been working with department heads to launch a new system of rubric creation. In the past, every teacher in the building had...
Developing Student Self-Reflection in P.S./I.S. 268
"There were students we’d been trying to move for years but weren’t able to, that we were able to move this year with the [Academic and Personal Behaviors] pilot work." One major tenet of Eskolta’s mission is centered on encouraging a culture of...