HISTORY
CEI-PEA came about when two respected public education organizations merged in 2000 to build a broad capacity for public school reform. CEI was first established in 1989 as a component of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and aimed to transform public education by shifting accountability from bureaucracies to schools as a means of creating public school choice for communities. PEA was founded in 1895 and for over 100 years worked for systemic and sustainable reform of the city’s public school system. Together, the organizations’ histories mark some of the most important milestones for advancing New York City’s public school system:
1896 – Created the “Tombs School,” the first school in New York City jails.
1919 – Initiated a campaign for the first hot school lunch program in New York City.
1935 – Launched the All Day Neighborhood Schools program to test the extended use of school facilities and parent involvement.
1956 – Produced a landmark study of segregation and inferior schooling for minority children.
1974 – Began the first public school choice program in New York City’s East Harlem.
1985 – Recognized by the White House for creating “schools that work.”
1992 – Published landmark studies of small schools and operating costs that demonstrated that small schools are both educationally desirable and cost-efficient.
1994 – Became a founding partner in the Annenberg Challenge grant to create small public schools and networks among New York City schools.
1997 – Established the School Leadership Academy under the direction of Dr. Lorraine Monroe to develop and train in-service principals.
1998 – Established the first charter school resource center in New York State.
2003 – Launched Project BOOST to provide academic, social and cultural enrichment to under-achieving fourth through eighth grade students with the ultimate goal of helping them gain admission to quality high schools.
2004 – Launched an initiative to develop public school choice programs in five major cities across the United States through a multi-year grant from the United States Department of Education.
2006 – Launched new initiatives to help increase the number of quality teachers in the public schools, increase the number of effective principals by developing and mentoring assistant principals, and establishing career technical education programs for the 21st century.
2007 – Selected as a Partnership Support Organization (PSO) for New York City public schools; awarded $10.5 million federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant to launch PICCS: Partnership for Innovation in Compensation for Charter Schools.
2008 – Launched 21st Century Community Learning Center programs with three New York City public schools.
2009 – Number of schools selecting CEI-PEA as their Partnership Support Organization rises to 77.
2010 – Number of schools selecting CEI-PEA as their Partnership Support Organization rises to 118, PICCS expands to 13 new charter schools in New York City and Buffalo with $17.5 million in federal Teacher Incentive Fund grants, and a national Network of Independent Charter Schools is launched with a $2 million federal grant.
2011 – Number of schools selecting CEI-PEA as their Partnership Support Organization rises to 147, which makes our PSO larger than a majority of urban public school systems.
2014 – 207 schools select CEI-PEA as their Partnership Support Organization , which makes our PSO the sixth largest public school system in the United States.