History

Overview

Since it first opened its doors in 1989, New Visions for Public Schools has acted with the belief that educational improvement requires everyone involved — the public school system, government, businesses, community groups, parents and students — to work harder and do better together with a focus on improving student achievement. While some questioned the possibility of success in a school system as vast and complex as ours, others knew that improvement was not an option; it was a necessity. The link between a quality education and quality of life cannot be disputed. Educational quality not only defines the options that enable children to lead healthy and productive lives, it determines the economic and cultural success of our city.

New Visions for Public Schools has worked with every district in New York City in nearly 800 schools with hundreds of thousands of students, parents, teachers and community members. For 20 years, New Visions has improved the educational opportunities of students through multiple strategies, including:
 

Creating New Schools

New Visions

• created 139 small schools throughout New York City.
• secured additional funds from the New York City Council for building improvements to schools.

Working with Communities to Support Schools

New Visions

• mobilized 225 community groups, institutions and businesses to support New Visions’ schools.
• engaged parents through bilingual workshops and parent-centered publications focused on getting students ready for college.

Developing Innovative Solutions to Improve Schools

New Visions

• initiated a highly successful school improvement model that links leadership certification to increasing student performance, certifying 180 school leaders by 2012.

• launched the Urban Teacher Residency, a teacher recruitment, preparation and retention initiative based on the medical residency model.

• pioneered a principal mentoring program and mentored more than 600 principals in their first year of service.

• created new data tools for students, parents and teachers to measure progress toward graduation.

These strategies have proven results:

Increasing Student Achievement

• The first graduating classes from New Visions’ new schools surpassed the citywide graduation rate by 20 percentage points.

• Black and Latino students in New Visions’ schools graduated at rates 20 percentage points higher than the citywide average for similar cohorts.

Taking Education Reform To Scale

• The New York City Department of Education adopted New Visions’ school creation model, resulting in the opening of more than 200 new schools.

• Boston and Oakland, Calif., launched leadership certification programs based on New Visions’ model.

• The New York City Leadership Academy and Palm Beach County, Fla., adopted New Visions’ principal mentoring strategy.

• The New York City Department of Education instituted a school improvement strategy (called “inquiry teams”) based on New Visions’ model.

Today, as a Partnership Support Organization — one of about a dozen in New York City — supporting 76 schools serving more than 34,000 students, New Visions continues to raise the bar. In a goal to increase the graduation rate by 2013, New Visions and its partner schools have made a bold commitment to ensuring that at least eight out of 10 students graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed in college and compete in the global economy.