The Center for Educational Partnerships at GSE

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Since its establishment in 2006, Fordham’s Center for Educational Partnerships has earned a reputation as one of the City’s most innovative and increasingly influential resources of its kind by promoting student achievement in Pre-K to Grade 12 schools and by leveraging multi-tiered collaboration between an institution of higher education and school systems as the essential community link.

In so doing, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education has immersed itself into the educational landscape of New York City Schools through the CEP, which serves over 550,000 students, 8,800 teachers, and thousands of parents/families throughout New York City and the greater metropolitan area.

Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., Associate Dean, Director, Center for Educational Partnerships.

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Dr. Anita Vazquez Batisti is the Associate Dean and founding Director of the Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP) at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education, which presently serves over 8,800 K-12 teachers, 400 administrators, and over 550,000 students in public, private, and charter schools throughout NYC and the greater metropolitan area. 

During the course of her career, Dr. Batisti has served as an administrator, educator, and development specialist for New York City Community School Districts, the New York City Department of Education, Fordham University, Pace University, New York University, The United States Department of Education, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Batisti’s experiences highlight her ability to understand the complexities and subtleties of both urban and suburban school systems, related service providers, and empowered networks. She has raised over $300 million from public and private sources.

The scope of Dr. Batisti’s teaching and administration experience encompasses work in Districts 1, 2, 4, 5 (Manhattan), including her responsibilities as Director of Development and Reimbursable Programs for District 2. Dr. Batisti has over 25 years of experience in higher education, both at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education and Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.

When planning and seeking out resources, Dr. Batisti prioritizes the needs of at-risk students and underserved communities. Evidence of this can be seen in the initiatives and programs she has created and sustained in her role as Associate Dean and Director of the Fordham University Graduate School of Education Center for Educational Partnerships: namely, the first Bronx Regional Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance Center serving the entire borough exclusively; the Lower Hudson Valley Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance Center; Bilingual School Psychology Support Center; Long Island/ Westchester Bilingual Education/ESL Teacher Leadership Academy; Mathematics and Literacy Coaching; Fordham Partnership Support Organization, a Center Initiative that put Dr. Batisti inside more than 35 New York City public schools as Network CEO; Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network; Community School Technical Assistance Centers - NYC & Eastern NY(Long Island to Plattsburgh); Professional Development Resource Center for Independent and Religious Schools; CARES Act; “STOP School Violence”: -Bronx and Manhattan programs, U.S. Department of Justice; Community Partnership Schools- MS 331 Bronx and PS 129/ MS 371 Manhattan; Clinically Intensive Teacher Institute (Bilingual & TESOL); Mental Health Awareness Training.

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Center Initiatives

    • Serves NYC Region
    • Provides targeted assistance to schools and advances the community school model regionally
    • serves PS 129M and MS 331X
    • partners to implement the community school strategy
    • serves NYC and Long Island regions
    • provides workshops and direct funding
    • serving metropolitan area and beyond
    • provides through contracts with schools and districts
    • serves 8 schools per year over 3 years (24 total) in the Bronx with 16 workshops each
    • partners with Bronx Executive Superintendent and Borough School Safety to build capacity to prevent violence
    • serves NYC Region all public, non-public, and charter schools (~2600) and over 159k English Learners
    • provides targeted assistance to schools and regional professional development workshops

  • For Religious and Independent Schools

    • serves 850 schools in the NYC Region in-person and statewide online
    • provides professional development workshops, institutes, and conferences