The success stories of city PROSE schools were featured at an open house at UFT headquarters on May 24 that drew a crowd of citywide school teams hoping to follow in their footsteps.

Oi Ling Sin, a math teacher at Theater Arts Production Company HS, found “all the different PROSE models innovative and interesting.” Attending with colleagues and her “21st-century principal,” she said they were exploring possible ideas for their Bronx school.

Teams from six of the city’s 126 Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence shared how they have seized the opportunity offered by the program to go outside normal work rules. They gave an overview of the work they have done on issues ranging from increasing student diversity and flexible scheduling to expanding teacher leadership roles.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the enthusiastic audience that the next step is to broadcast more widely how in the PROSE program “New York City teachers came together and came up with successful ideas.”

Special education teacher Diane Castelucci and Principal Anna Allanbrook spoke about PS 146’s efforts to combat gentrification and bring diversity back to their Brooklyn school. They cited their success in recruiting a more diverse incoming kindergarten class as a result of outreach to parents at early childhood centers and to families in the community.

Takitha Lindsey and Sherry-Ann Atkinson, teachers at the School of Integrated Learning in Brooklyn, explained how their Title 1 school has been experimenting with flexible groupings with their shared students throughout the week. Sometimes, they explained, the teachers combine students into a larger class. At other times, they said, they will regroup students from two different classes to give targeted instruction as needed. It’s the kind of work that takes a lot of planning and a lot of trust, they said.

“It started organically,” Lindsey explained, in an effort to solve the problem of gaps in student knowledge and low test scores. Principal Monique Campbell jumped in: “The idea didn’t come from me. I just support their work.”

Gary Fraboni, a 5th-grade teacher at PS 71 in Ridgewood, Queens, was part of a spirited nine-member team that described a peer-to-peer feedback initiative involving frequent classroom visits that the school initiated when it joined the PROSE program.

“The purpose is not to judge, but to share best practices, especially the best practices of experienced teachers with years of knowledge,” he explained. Principal Indiana Soto said that after some trepidation, “My colleagues are comfortable being public learners.”

AFT President Randi Weingarten cited “collective wisdom” as the power behind the PROSE initiative.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña cheered the PROSE innovators — “risk-takers,” she called them — for moving ahead with “no road map.”

“You know better than anyone what’s best for your schools,” Fariña said. “There are no absolute answers in education, and this is a work in progress. I hope you all learn from each other.”