Overview | Schools | AED PSO Team
AED PSO
AED PSO Overview
New York's Children First Reform Agenda is a call for systemic reform that meets the needs of the diverse student populations in New York City. In response to this call, the Academy for Educational Development (AED) is offering a Partnership Support Organization (PSO) with an explicit focus on the middle grades (grades 5 through 8) to ensure student success and a smooth transition across the education pipeline.
What is the AED PSO?
The AED PSO is dedicated to improving teaching and learning and ensuring the academic success and healthy development of all middle-grades students. AED believes that with the right stimulation and support, young adolescents can soar in school. The middle school experience should be one of positive development and achievement. This is why middle-grades schools require a PSO with an intentional focus on the needs of young adolescent learners.
Over the past decade, AED's Middle Start program has transformed many middle-grades schools, particularly those located in high-poverty areas, into high-performing environments that are: academically challenging; responsive to the unique characteristics of young adolescents, and able to demonstrate social equity.
The AED PSO Keeps Schools in Charge
The AED PSO empowers schools by customizing programs and support to their unique needs and interests. The consistency comes in through the AED PSO's expectation that all of their schools will implement the following five practices, each of which have lead to increases in student achievement in other middle-grades schools supported by AED.
- Making smart use of data and evidence regarding student learning
- Understanding adolescent development and its implications for teaching and learning
- Creating small learning communities and teacher teams.
- Building collaborative approaches to leadership, parent engagement, and support for students
- Embedding professional development into ongoing improvement
For more information, download the AED PSO one pager.
