Innovative Schools

Impact and Results

About Our Partner – NYC Leadership Academy

Launched in 2003, the NYC Leadership Academy is an independent nonprofit organization  that recruits, develops, and supports effective school leaders, with a focus on preparing principals to lead New York City’s high-need schools—those marked by high student poverty, low student achievement, and a history of frequent leadership turnover.

The Leadership Academy was created in response to an increase in principal vacancies due to high levels of retirements and the opening of new schools, leaving the need for new, highly qualified school leaders. It is our belief that early-career and experienced principals need leadership development opportunities and support mechanisms that are rigorous, relevant to the actual day-to-day work of principals, and responsive to the New York City Department of Education’s reform priorities.

Our programs seamlessly bridge theory, research, and practice-based expertise. By employing teamwork, simulations, and job-embedded learning opportunities, our programs enable participants to build a practice of continual individual and team growth on behalf of school improvement, explore new paradigms for schooling and the requisite skills to lead educational innovation, and develop a discipline of inquiry-driven leadership anchored in student learning.

To learn more, visit the NYC Leadership Academy website at http://www.nycleadershipacademy.org/

Hear from aspiring principals that have completed the NYC Leadership Academy's program and are now leading New York City's public schools.  Click here.

NYC Leadership Academy Data

Click here to access an independent study conducted by New York University on the outcomes of the NYC Leadership Academy Aspiring Principals Program.

Study Update Finds That Schools Led By NYC Leadership Academy Graduates Continue To Close Gap In Student Performance

NYU Study Updates and Expands 2009 Report

Schools led by graduates of the NYC Leadership Academy tend to improve student performance in English language arts (ELA) and math at a higher rate than schools led by similarly-tenured principals in similar schools, according to a study by the Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP) at New York University. In this update, IESP applied the same methodology it used in its 2009 paper, The New York City Aspiring Principals Program: A School-Level Analysis. The new analysis adds a third cohort of Aspiring Principal Program (APP) graduates and an additional year of testing data.  IESP found that APP graduates were more likely to be placed in elementary and middle schools with higher concentrations of African American and Latino students, and students eligible for free and reduced lunch. Their schools also had significantly lower initial student achievement and attendance rates, as well as lower proportions of experienced teachers than those led by comparison principals. After standardizing for citywide performance trends and controlling for differences in initial school and student characteristics, IESP found that APP-led schools cut the initial ELA performance gap between their schools and comparison schools in half. In math, the performance gap initially widened, but was virtually eliminated in years three and beyond.

To read the full press release, click here.

To read the study, click here.