On October 2 and 3, 2025, Blueprint welcomed our newest cohort of School Access and Quality Fellows to MIT for the SAQ Fellowship kickoff, a two-day event where Fellows laid the groundwork for a year of learning and collaboration.
The SAQ Fellowship’s Newest Cohort
Since 2019, Blueprint Labs has facilitated the School Access and Quality Fellowship, a one-year program for education leaders focused on improving education equity. Through in-person events, webinars, and virtual challenge sessions, Fellows learn about research and best practices and build a strong community.
This year, Blueprint admitted 21 SAQ Fellows who work in school districts, state agencies, charter school organizations, and non-profits nationwide. For the first time, Blueprint welcomes Fellows from Palm Beach County, FL, New Haven, CT, and Nashville, TN, alongside Fellows from 10 other contexts including New York City and Chicago. The current Fellows work in a wide range of enrollment- and school performance-related roles, from data quality managers to directors of school choice.
Building a Community
On October 2 and 3, 2025, this year’s Fellows traveled to MIT for the SAQ Fellowship kickoff event to learn from researchers, practitioners, and each other. Enrollment consultant Shannon Fitzgerald led Fellows in introductions, through which they learned about each other’s roles, organizations, and regional contexts. Fellows shared how their cities, states, and organizations measure school quality, collaborate across sectors, communicate about enrollment, and more. Throughout the event, Fellows formed relationships and kickstarted conversations that will persist throughout the Fellowship.
Learning from research and practice
Fellows also had the opportunity to learn from experts; during the kickoff, several researchers and practitioners shared their findings and experiences with Fellows. On Day 1, Blueprint Labs Director Josh Angrist shared Blueprint’s perspective on measuring school performance and presented lab research on more accurate and equitable measures of school quality. New York City Public Schools’ Aurora Moraes provided a practitioner’s perspective on the research and implementation of new measures co-designed with Blueprint in New York City.
Fellows also joined presentations on declining enrollment, an issue that is top of mind for many education leaders today. For example, Boston University PhD student Abby Francis shared her recent work on enrollment trends in Massachusetts, which shows that since the pandemic, public schools have seen a sustained decline in enrollment as private school and homeschool enrollments have consistently exceeded projections based on pre-pandemic trends. Denver Public Schools’ Jacob Lambdin followed her presentation by sharing how Denver has approached enrollment shifts within the district and addressed factors affecting enrollment in the past, and how they’ll study such factors in the future to mitigate effects. Later in the kickoff, Blueprint Research Associate Russell Legate-Yang and New York City Public Schools’ Deja Thomas further explored this topic by discussing their collaboration on a recent project that uses information campaigns to boost public school enrollment.
What’s Next?
As the kickoff concluded, Fellows discussed what they’d learned and set goals for the future. For the first time, SAQ Fellows will complete a capstone project over the course of the Fellowship. Fellows will commit to a project of their choosing related to enrollment or school performance—for example, they may pursue an enrollment policy change or develop a new school quality measure. As their projects progress, Fellows will receive guidance from small groups of their peers and mentors who participated in previous Fellowship cohorts.
In addition to capstone projects, Fellows will participate in virtual webinars and challenge sessions, where they will continue to learn from research and discuss the challenges they face. The Fellowship will culminate in the spring with the City Learning Visit, a two-day, in-person deep dive into the education practices of one city. At that point, Fellows will present their capstone project accomplishments. We can’t wait to continue working with this enthusiastic group of education leaders.
Interested in learning more about the SAQ Fellowship? Watch this short video, and fill out this interest form or sign up for Blueprint’s newsletter to receive updates about the current cohort and future applications.