The FRNYC community will convene on a quarterly basis for Community of Practice (CoP) Sessions. The purpose of these events is to bring schools and partners together to deliver key content and expectations, uplift best practices and support cross school learning. Following CoP sessions, schools will engage in regular coaching to apply information from the CoP and facilitate the development of an implementation plan. The SY 23-24 CoP kicks off during the summer with the FRNYC Summer Institute. This exciting 3-day training, and the school year convenings that follow, serve to build community, ground FRNYC schools in a common purpose/goal, and align on implementation expectations. Below are descriptions of these convenings:

  • FRNYC Summer Institute: A 3-day training to orient new and returning school leaders and their teams on the components of FRNYC and prepare to implement the program in SY23-24. Partner schools can opt to attend this event on one of two date ranges: July 25-27, 2023 or August 1-3, 2023. Schools should plan to register at least three members including the WBL Coordinator, an administrator, an advisor, and a teacher. 
    • The event will take place at the CUNY Graduate Center and will cover the following topics: Overview of programming, course sequences, and standards; Curriculum Recommendations; Early College Credits through CUNY; Preparing for WBL experiences; Tracking student data and using digital tools.
  • Community of Practice: Education Strategy Group (ESG) is an education consultancy that is providing implementation support and technical assistance to FRNYC schools through dedicated coaches. ESG will host Community of Practice (CoP) sessions for FRNYC schools to meet on a quarterly basis. The SY23-24 CoP sessions will take place October 19, December 7, February 8 and April 1 (View registration information). At CoP sessions, schools will partner with their implementation coaches, the Central FRNYC team, and external partners to design programming for the school year and troubleshoot potential issues. CoP sessions provide hands-on time for schools to focus on FRNYC implementation through 6 key lenses:
    • Operations
    • Curriculum & instruction
    • Partnerships
    • Data and continuous improvement
    • Equity and engagement
    • Leadership and change management

Characteristics of Most CoP Sessions:

  • CoP sessions last a few hours and feature a mix of whole-group learning, small-group learning across schools, and working time for school teams
  • Content will be intentionally aligned with, and drawn from, timely priorities to support schools with implementing FRNYC. The CoP will incorporate expertise from a number of sources including outside national experts, local community-based organizations, NYCDOE central office team members, CUNY partners, and knowledge from within the FRNYC school community
    • Sessions will also be leveraged as opportunities to reinforce priorities and timelines for implementation so that schools share a common understanding of expectations
  • School attendees should ideally include the school principal and up to two other school-based faculty and/or staff members responsible for implementing major elements of FRNYC

Roles to consider for participation include assistant principals, teachers, school counselors, and WBL and/or pathways coordinators.

Coaching

In addition to regular convenings, schools will be provided with coaching via a FRNYC Coaching Collective partner. These partners include ESG, the Bank Street College of Education, Pencil, Eskolta School Research and Design, The Urban Assembly, ExpandEd, the National Academy Foundation (NAF), and Imagine Schools FRNYC Learning Lab. This collective serves to:

  • Provide schools with content expertise, thought partnership, and supplemental capacity to implement the FRNYC core program components
  • Nurture a coordinated multi-stakeholder learning community to implement and iterate on high quality career-connected learning programs
  • Provide school leaders with specialized coaching and a CoP to drive innovation and accelerate learning in the design of their pathways
  • Build capacity of NYCPS and external partners to grow and sustain high-quality career-connected learning program

Following a needs assessment, schools will be matched with a coach who will work with school leaders and their teams to turnkey CoP content and support implementation planning. Below is a description of these three coaching strands:

  • Learning Lab: Selected FRNYC schools will also have the opportunity to participate in the FutureReadyNYC Learning Lab program, through which new FRNYC schools will be paired with an "anchor" school that has extensive experience building career-connected learning pathways. Anchor schools will provide thought partnership, planning, programming guidance, and technical assistance through CoP sessions and "Spark Visits" to anchor schools to share best practices. FRNYC schools will also be encouraged to participate in the Lighthouse Collaborate (LC) Visit to a Lighthouse School with Career Connected Learning as its instructional focus. LC visitation calendar for SY 23-24 will be shared.
  • Bank Street Principal Fellowship: FRNYC principals will be invited to apply for a 2-year fellowship with the Bank Street College of Education. This fellowship includes coaching, a week-long summer intensive and regular collaborative working groups throughout the school year.
  • ESG: Leads coaching and coordination with one of our partner organizations (Pencil, NAF, Eskolta, the Urban Assembly and ExpandED), who will help support implementation planning
Professional Learning

Schools will also be engaged in pathway-specific training and upskilling for staff leading FRNYC programming on curriculum/credentialing, WBL, and advising. FRNYC has teamed up with Computer Science Education (CSE) to support teacher upskilling for tech pathways. In early June, all FRNYC tech pathway schools will receive a needs assessment to determine the school's readiness to implement the course sequence required in the Software Development & Data Science Track and the foundational course of the Cybersecurity Track. In addition, you'll be able to identify the gaps (if any) in offering availability and staffing amongst your school to support the Software Development track. The CSE team will follow up with all FRNYC schools after the completion of this assessment survey to determine training needs for SY 23-24.

Full Overview of FRNYC PL and Office Hours Offerings for SY 23-24 can be viewed here.

Reminder: Below you will find the Training section of the implementation checklist, for reference. View full FRNYC Planning Checklist.