Course Catalog

Spring 2010

B9455-015: Education Leadership Consulting Lab

M - Full Term, 02:15PM to 05:30PM

Instructor: laura smith; amy rosen

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More than 25 years after the publication of a Nation at Risk, a report that found the educational foundations of American society were being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity, US students continue to lose ground against other industrial nations and the education achievement gap continues to haunt our public school systems. The moral and economic consequences are huge. The varying performance of schools serving similar students shows that race and poverty need not be determining factors, and many leaders of schools systems are trying bold new strategies. Human capital innovations – how schools recruit, develop, reward and retain highly effectively staff – are proving to be critical levers for change, but often face significant political challenges.

Today, for the first time in history, there are resources at the federal level to drive change. As the U.S. Department of Education marshals over $4B in stimulus funding, it is taking an unprecedented role to create incentives for states and districts to reform policies and practices in order to qualify for funds.

With the largest U.S. school system as our backdrop, the NYC Department of Education (DOE) serves more than 1.1 million students in over 1500 schools with an operating budget in excess of $17 billion dollars annually. Eight years after giving the Mayor control of this system, scores are rising and graduation rates are improving, but the challenges are still formidable.

Course Overview

The Education Consulting class offers students a rare opportunity to be part of the educational reform effort underway in the U.S. with unique access to initiatives occurring in New York City's public schools. Students will learn about efforts underway by the federal government, state education departments, school districts, and non-profit and private sector organizations engaged in tackling these problems. In order to provide a context for this work, as well as introduce students to the rapidly growing education consulting sector, experts will appear as guest speakers and work directly with student teams. Students will work as consultants assigned to members of the NYC DOE leadership team, charter and school leaders who are responsible for supporting effective schools. Projects will focus on creating tools and protocols to manage the human capital challenges they are facing.

Approach and Logistics

Students will be placed in teams of four to five and assigned a project and a client for a semester long project.

The class meets weekly for 12 sessions of 3 hours each. Students will receive their client projects at the beginning of the course, and most individual class sessions will include a mix of speakers, discussion and group work on projects.

In addition to regular class attendance, students are expected to:

  • Complete pre-term assignments: Advanced readings and brief survey to be distributed via Angel in early January (to inform client project assignments)
  • Attend one Friday, half-day (from 8am-11am) off-site meeting at NYC Department of Education headquarters (Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers Street)

    • View video introduction

    Amy Rosen

    Amy Rosen

    Adjunct Professor

    Amy Rosen joined New Visions for Public Schools as Chief Operating Officer in February 2007. She is responsible for leading the senior management team and has direct reporting responsibility for day-to-day operations, programs, policy, fundraising, communications and long-range planning. Working collaboratively with the president, department heads and staff, Ms. Rosen establishes relationships with key constituents in New York City public education, philanthropic circles, community organizations and civic government. Through her leadership positions in the private and public sectors, Ms. Rosen has led many organizations through transformational change and has applied her management skills and experience with complex constituencies to provide advice to large urban districts. As the founding partner of Public Private Strategy Group, a management advisory firm, she served as the project manager for the design and launch of the Empowerment Zone Project for the New York City Department of Education.

    In the field of transportation, Ms. Rosen has been a leader in changing the way public agencies conduct business. Her experience in managing a state transportation department, her tenure as a leader of the NJ Transit Board of Directors, her service on the Amtrak Board of Directors, as well as her ongoing role providing consulting services to transit agencies, has earned her a national reputation as a change agent in this field. She has lectured and received numerous public recognitions of her work including induction into the NJ Transit Hall of Fame and being named Board member of the Year by the American Public Transportation Association.

    Ms. Rosen is a founding member and principal of the Council for Excellence in Government, an organization whose mission is to improve the performance of the federal government through the involvement of former state and federal officials. Her other board memberships include: current chair of the board of directors for TEAM Academy, a group of highly successful charter schools in Newark; NJ SEEDS, a statewide nonprofit organization that identifies and provides high-achieving, low-income students with academic enrichment opportunities; and a member of the executive committee, as well as treasurer and secretary, of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Montclair, NJ.

    Ms. Rosen has served as an advisor to local, state and federal political leaders, including policy advisor for the current mayor of Newark, NJ. Ms. Rosen holds a B.A. in political studies from Pitzer (Claremont) College in Claremont, CA. She completed the Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School, and was a Fellow at the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy.

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