I am QTC…Do you see me?

A Cahn Fellows project describing the experiences of how the Queens Transition Center began their journey to make themselves seen to the broader community

Dr. Fritzy Sannon-Brown • Cahn Fellow 2021

This project entitled “I am QTC, Do you see me?”, describes the experiences of how the staff and students at the Queens Transition Center (QTC) began a journey to take ownership of the low staff morale and negative stigma surrounding our school, and make the attempt to re-invent ourselves as a school community working for the betterment of the students. 

This project examined how identifying key stakeholders and empowering them with specific roles to support the school, began to make a difference in the manner in which school staff, students and the community viewed the school. This project also examined how the perceptions of students in special education appeared to be biased, hence contributing to the lower expectations from parents and other stakeholders. 

As a result of interviews, conversations, and looking at qualitative data from multiple sources, the results of this project revealed that several areas emerged from the data which were identified as “areas of impact” to support the work. The areas of impact were: academic, social-emotional, team-building and morale and school spirit. The results also indicate that additional work and support is needed to sustain the positive outcomes and increase momentum to positively influence staff and student morale and affect the perceptions of the school.