Students Prep for National Invitational Public Policy Challenge

SIPA will be one of twelve schools participating in the National Invitational Public Policy Challenge, hosted by the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania and Governing magazine on March 21 and 22.

The competition challenges students to offer proposals to solve an urban policy problem. The SIPA team has developed a proposal that aims to increase levels of family engagement in New York public schools, specifically through home visits and constant communication.

The team members are Chiara Lawry MPA’16, Michael Sedillo, MPA’16 and Caitlin Tommasulo, MPA ’16, each of whom is concentrating in Urban and Social Policy.

“I think it’s a strong idea that’s actually feasible and implementable,” said Tommasulo. “I’m excited to share it.”

The proposal, “TEAM: Together Education Achieves More,” is structured around building robust relationships and fostering trust and mutual respect. This, the team proposes, can be achieved through home visits and ongoing communication. The proposal also offers practical tips to parents, and promotes communication through text messaging, while offering alternatives to those without access to phones.

“It takes teachers one to three months to get to know a student and see how they learn,” Lawry said. “Understanding where they’re coming from streamlines the process and allows teachers to better suit students needs.”

The SIPA team also intends to test the proposal using a pilot, so as to strengthen their idea through research and evidence.

Without this, the proposal would not be as robust or comprehensive, said Sedillo.

The proposal is also something the team hopes to put forward to New York City’s Department of Education, said Lawry.

“It is a great opportunity for us to put what we’re learning in our courses into practice,” said Tommasulo. “It’s a good bridge from the academic to a hands-on program.”

The team members, who worked as a team previously in an economics course at SIPA, said support from SIPA had been key to the success of their proposal.

“You don’t often have an opportunity for an institution like Columbia to support you in creating a proposal,” said Sedillo.

Team members said the guidance and support they received from many SIPA faculty members—including their advisor, Seth Pinksy, as well as Ester Fuchs, Sarah Holloway, Lisa Belzberg, and Dean Merit E. Janow—was integral to the final proposal.

“It’s amazing how the SIPA community can rally around an idea to make it happen,” said Lawry.

— Tamara El Waylly MIA ’15