New York

Across New York State and New York City, a powerful story is emerging: young people are being trusted with real work, real voice, and real responsibility.

At the state level, New York’s Performance-Based Learning and Assessment Networks (PLAN) are helping middle and high schools move beyond one-shot tests toward rich tasks, exhibitions, and community-connected projects. Students are defending ideas, curating portfolios, and tackling problems that look a lot more like life after graduation than a bubble sheet.  

In New York City, Superintendent Alan Cheng leads a portfolio of innovative high schools—including Internationals, NYC Outward Bound, and Performance Standards Consortium schools—that are proving deeper learning is possible at scale in the nation’s largest system. His team centers student agency, multilingual inclusion, and performance assessment aligned to a broader vision of what graduates should know and be able to do.  

Big Picture Learning schools across New York lean into the city and state as the classroom. Young people design personalized learning plans and spend significant time in internships, studios, and community organizations, guided by advisors who know them deeply. Their demonstrations of learning—exhibitions, senior projects, and the International Big Picture Learning Credential—signal to families and postsecondary partners that real-world work counts.  

In the Bronx, Stephen Ritz and Green Bronx Machine show what happens when you root learning in food, health, and community. Students grow, cook, and share vegetables in classroom farms while boosting attendance, academic outcomes, and neighborhood resilience. They are literally greening their school and reimagining what it means to be well, together.  

Taken together, these efforts suggest a hopeful headline: in New York, school is slowly but surely becoming a place where every learner can be known, needed, and equipped to change their world. This is not a fringe experiment but a growing, statewide movement for public education renewal, bold.

Watch. Be inspired. Share. The future of education is taking shape in New York — we invite you to be part of it. If you would like to learn more about these initiatives, or if you are interested in hosting a screening and discussion of these films, please contact us at info@whatschoolcouldbe.org.