New York City Department of Education - Research and Policy Support Group

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) is the largest school system in the nation, with nearly 1.1 million students, 135,000 employees (including 80,000 teachers) and an annual budget of $14+ billion. Since its inception in 2003, the Children First Reform Agenda for New York City’s schools has driven the DOE’s work in adopting uniform, rigorous curricula for all schools, starting new small schools to increase educational options for students, and transforming the structure and culture of the DOE to encourage educational excellence and the work necessary to support that goal.

Research-based educational policy and data transparency are essential elements of the Children’s First reform. The Research and Policy Support Group (RPSG) is at the center of this effort as the primary source of data analysis and research for the DOE. The RPSG both conducts its own research and analyses to inform DOE policy, as well as consults on and supports others’ analytic work with DOE data.