2019 Reports

Improving Sustainability Education Policy through Research Partnerships: Reflections and Analysis from New York City

Pizmony-Levy, Oren; McDermott, Meredith; Copeland, Thaddeus T.

This paper examines an ongoing research partnership between the New York City Department of Education Office of Sustainability and Teachers College, Columbia University. Similar to other global cities like London and Hong Kong, New York City recently initiated a groundbreaking effort to address the long-term challenges the city faces relating to climate change and sustainability. Now in its fifth year, the research partnership strives to improve school engagement with sustainability through the development of research-based knowledge and evidence. This paper examines the partnership’s outcomes and assesses the ways in which policymakers use these results to inform policy and practice. Two lines of educational research—the application of improvement science and research use—are utilized to contextualize this work, which concludes with lessons learned and suggestions for potential future research.