Professional Learning Community

  • July 22nd, 2024

The work of supporting OY leaders to launch new schools, operate great school communities, achieve strong outcomes and advocate for necessary policy changes that allow others to do the same will be driven by a high-quality Opportunity Youth Schools Professional Learning Community. The value of the professional learning community will be driven less by the quantity of interactions (limited for busy professional launching/running schools with OY) and more by the depth and quality of learning ties among near peer professionals driving similar work in their respective school communities.

OYSP leadership is constructing a sustained professional learning community thriving from the collaborative professionalism of a targeted and small group of participants on three well-defined areas of focus: 

1) Planning for the launch of a new school community – building a sustained community of expertise focused on charter application process, family/community engagement, district relationship building, fiscal management, data systems, compliance planning, curriculum planning and development, staffing structure, and integration of existing priority OY program components into school proposals/launch plans. 

2) Sustaining exemplary learning outcomes and teaching practices – building a sustained community of expertise focused on research and practice related to curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, school climate & culture, restorative practices, learning differences, and whole child development practices proven effective with OY learners. 

3) Advocating for the local, state and federal policy solutions – building a sustained community of expertise focused on advocacy for policies that allow for, promote and fund efforts to improve – age & eligibility requirements for ADA funding with OY; accountability structures for OY schools and learners; competency-based graduation requirements for OY; and more efficient integration of education & workforce dollars and reporting requirements. 

The OYSP Professional Learning Community will convene in-person annually and from distance 2-3 more times annually. Only practitioners focused on the content areas of focus described above, in communities of focus for OYSP, would be invited to engage in the PLC. The ability to share lessons learned, receive peer feedback, engage with coaching assistance, discuss practice changes and understand policy developments/wins would initially be focused on a core group of participating programs and participating practitioners from these programs – along with content experts/coaches in each of the three categories of PLC work.

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Robert Clark

Robert Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN), has spent over 30 years in youth workforce development, designing and implementing systems-level strategies to reengage and improve long-term outcomes for opportunity youth. Over the course of those years, he has served as National Program Advisor to YouthBuild USA and as a Senior Advisor to Newark Public Schools while at the same time growing YouthBuild Newark from a small direct service program into a multitiered intermediary, now doing business as NOYN.

Sangeeta Tyagi

Sangeeta Tyagi, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Youth and Communities at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her work focuses on workforce, youth, and community development, education, and the organizational development of mission driven organizations. She brings decades of senior organizational development experience in leading national organizations and helping to grow the quality and capacity of networks. Her areas of interest and expertise include building cross-sector strategies for under- and unemployed youth and adult workers, postsecondary education access and success for first-in-family students, and youth engagement and leadership.

In addition to the U.S., she has worked in India, Kenya, and Ethiopia with local anchor partners on youth employment ecosystems and strategies and on innovation, scale, and sustainability of youth employment strategies.

Prior to her role at Brandeis, she was President of YouthBuild USA, a national network of over 230 community-based youth and workforce development programs where she had also served as Chief Program Officer, and Vice President for Education and Workforce Development during her 14 years tenure in the organization.

Additionally, since 2017 Sangeeta has served as Senior Advisor at Spring Point Partners, a social impact organization that seeks impactful change through grantmaking, investing, and professional and organizational development. In that role she coaches grantee partner CEOs and works with the organization’s program team on strategy and impact.

Sangeeta teaches in the MPP programs at the Heller School, chairs the Women, Gender, and Sexuality concentration, and is an invited external member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at MDRC. Earlier, she served as the Founding Board President at the YouthBuild Charter School of California for 13 years. She has a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Scott Emerick

Based on 15 years of work learning with Opportunity Youth in Philly and Boston, Scott Emerick is currently working with partners to launch the Opportunity Youth Schools Project. He most recently served as the CEO of Friends of YouthBuild Philly overseeing fundraising, financing and construction plans to complete the school community’s new and permanent home in North Philly. As the Executive Director of YouthBuild Philly, he oversaw the programming, operations, fundraising, and capacity building for the largest single-site Opportunity Youth program in the US. Before coming to YouthBuild Philly, he served as Senior Vice President for Education, Career, and Service Pathways at YouthBuild USA. In this role he oversaw program initiatives related to improving postsecondary access and success; implementing quality education programming; increasing STEM and career development capacity; and helping educators respond to learning differences.

Scott has provided technical assistance for school districts on teaching quality and teacher retention. He also has professional experience as an educator, as an advocate for improved teaching and learning conditions, and as a management consultant for clients investing in education. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.