Researchers to Study N.Y.C.’s School Improvement Efforts

Scholars, activists, and business and education leaders have launched a new research group that will study what works, and what doesn’t, in New York City’s widely watched bid to improve its schools.

At its inaugural conference Oct. 5, the Research Partnership for New York City Schools offered a glimpse of the sort of work it hopes to do in the future: research with practical applications that will inform and guide the nation’s biggest school district in the massive overhaul effort that took shape under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who won control over the schools in 2002.

Held at City University of New York’s Graduate Center, the conference featured four papers commissioned by the Social Science Research Council, a New York City-based group that has been...