10.09.08

The Effective Practice Incentive Community, or EPIC, a Web portal unveiled last week by the New York City-based principal-training organization New Leaders for New Schools, contains in-depth analyses of low-income schools that, like Noyes, are producing strong student-learning gains. The case studies consist of recorded testimony, video clips documenting instruction, and artifacts, such as lesson plans, culled straight from the schools.

“Teachers are notoriously private about what they do in their classrooms,” Mr. Ryan mused about the documentation process at Noyes.

“But we were able to quickly understand that this was for our benefit and to help up-and-coming educators learn from our experiences,” the principal says.

In a nutshell, that is EPIC’s goal. Each case study contains a facilitator’s guide on how educators can use the system’s features to guide conversations about how to improve their practices.

“This [system] is focused on making available practices ... to educators who are focused on the right goals and have the right commitment, but who often have not had direct access to schools and classrooms that are making dramatic improvements for low-income kids,” Jon H. Schnur, the organization’s co-founder, said.

The portal is fully accessible to educators in Denver; Memphis, Tenn.; the District of Columbia; Prince George’s County, Md.; and a consortium of charter schools spanning 18 states, as well as to participants in New Leaders’ principal-training program.