Scaling Policy in Urban Education

“Somewhere in a school right now there are solutions to the challenges we are facing in public education. We need to find them and scale them” --- John King Jr., Former U.S. Secretary of Education.

Scaling in education – going from the small to the large and from reception to adoption – if done right, solves problems like low graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, and poor reading proficiency. It reduces poverty, closes the equity gap, aids in improvements to quality learning, and safeguards successful education initiatives against policy churn due to political transitions. And yet, while many effective education innovations work ​at a small scale, most do not translate to the large-scale, systemic change needed to improve learning in urban school districts. Scaling is perhaps our greatest education challenge.  It is imperative for large, urban school districts and local governments like New York City to build scaling “know-how” to move schools from good to great and avoid replicating biases that exclude or marginalize specific groups. 

Spring 2026 Course Dates: March 25 - April 22