Reframing Education: The Partnership Strategy and Public Schools

This report includes the text of two reports issued as follow up evaluations of the New Century High School Initiative for New York City Schools. The first report, entitled "Partnership & Innovation: New Century High Schools in New York," was published February 2004. The second entitled, "Practicing Partnership: Lever for Reform in Public Schools," was published August 2005.

In the February 2004 report, the implementation of a $30 million grant to New Visions for Public Schools for the New Century High Schools initiative. The grant stressed community partnership strategy to transform school districts. The partnerships linked schools and community resource organizations such as youth service organizations, cultural and educational institutions, and community-based organizations. Each new school was to be a working partnership between educators and at least one community organization. The end goal was to transform chronically low-performing large high schools (identified by the New York City Department of Education) into campuses of independent small schools. The first New Century high schools opened in September 2002; by fall 2004, 75 new small schools had opened and served more than 12,000 students.