Dear Families,

Recently, a parent asked us what it means to be a “PROSE school.” It’s always good when these types of questions come up because they give us an opportunity to address lingering questions within the community that we may not know you have. Hopefully, this letter will help provide clarity about how this particular program lends itself to how we collaborate and grow together as educators throughout the school year. 

The Neighborhood School has participated in the Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE) program since 2014. The PROSE program was established as part of the contract between the UFT and the NYC Public Schools to allow schools to implement innovative plans outside the Chancellor’s Regulations or UFT contract.  TNS is part of a cohort of other like-minded schools:  The Earth School, Castle Bridge, CPE 1, CPE 2, Ella Baker, and Brooklyn New School. In addition to flexibility around family conference days, under PROSE, we have six half-days and up to two full days for professional development. For TNS, PROSE is a means to build our school and our capacities and to affirm processes that grew out of practices at TNS. Some of the work that has come out of these PD days are descriptive inquiry, collaborating with District 1 Leads to dive deeply into math curriculum and routines, allowing time for teacher/grade teams to plan Social Studies units, furthering our understanding of the Science of Reading and developing implementation strategies in conjunction with our speech pathologists, etc. 

As a progressive school that values the unique experiences of each student and what they bring to the community, we also want to honor the unique gifts and contributions of each staff member while creating opportunities for growth. Great teachers are always learning, so we use our PROSE days to build upon our strengths and gain new understandings so that we can bring our best selves to our practice. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Warmly,

Dyanthe and Shaquawn