EduCon 2.7

The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) uses new ideas and creative solutions to tackle the educational achievement gap and increase the number of Black and Latino young men who graduate high school prepared to succeed in college and careers. As part of that comprehensive effort, ESI works and conducts research in 40 public high schools that have shown promise in reversing this trend; develop and launch new high schools specifically designed to fully prepare Black and Latino young men for success in college and careers; and scale-up college advising training city-wide with the goal of reach all high schools over the next two years.

As part of the new school design work, the ESI Fellows, a cross-functional team of professionals with experience from a range of fields, were intentionally pulled together with the belief that the challenge of increasing college and career readiness for Black and Latino youth required a wide range of strategies and solutions from a diverse array of fields and disciplines.The Fellows utilized a design thinking process as they collaborated with a cadre of Student Fellows to construct a school model destined to address the disparities facing our children. This model is now represented in three new high schools in Brooklyn and Queens.

In this conversation, participants will engage in design thinking work as we explore some of the challenges faced in the creation phase and the execution of the school model.