NYC Public Schools

NYC Department of Education

Public Sector

B2B + B2C

Qualitative

Quantitative

Multilingual

My Role
Scoped, designed, and conducted foundational strategy research to deliver real-time insights to designers and stakeholders, shaping the roadmap for NYC’s first online school application and admissions system.

The Problem
The largest school system in the U.S. (1.1 million students, 1,800+ schools) relied on paper forms and spreadsheets. The process was complex, inaccessible, and inefficient. NYC needed its first online application system, with an interactive back-end, to re-build family trust.

My Approach
Ran qualitative studies with families and admins uncovering pain points and trust barriers

Ran quantitative analysis of existing systems

Conducted mobile-first usability testing, in multiple languages

Fed strategy and key findings to design team in real time to shape feature roadmap

Impact
Shaped digital strategy for 1.1 million students annually, in 10 languages

Reduced design cycle time by 70%

Established accessibility benchmarks for WCAG 2.1 AA+

Secured $10M contract

What People Said

“They’ve delivered a family-focused tool in which parents can easily navigate their children’s choices for High School, Middle School, Kindergarten and Pre-K.”

- Chief Enrollment Officer / New York City Public School

Awards

Anthem Award / Silver / Education – Innovation
Communicator Award of Distinction / Education
W3 Awards / Gold / Web Applications / Services
W3 Awards / Gold / Local Government
Summit Creative Awards / Silver / Government Websites
Webby Awards / Honoree / Government & Civil Innovation