When we first announced the PROSE initiative as part of the 2014 contract, many people asked me, “What kinds of things are the schools going to do?” I responded, “I don’t know. It’s up to them.” That’s the beauty and the core of PROSE: Each school would figure it out on its own.

It wasn’t about one-size-fits-all plans or top-down edicts. That’s the road previous administrations have taken, and we know they have not worked to improve teaching and learning in our schools.

PROSE — the Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence — gives teachers the chance to innovate and to collaborate with other stakeholders in the school community. It was a hard-won part of our contract. PROSE provides flexibility by allowing schools to rethink some of the things we take for granted, including how teachers are evaluated and supported, how the school day is programmed and even how a school recruits students.

What all successful PROSE applicants have in common is that their proposals are teacher-driven and engage school administrators and leaders in a collaboration that is focused on excellence for students. After the schools develop their plan in conjunction with their school community and school leadership team, the plan is submitted to a PROSE panel composed of UFT and Department of Education representatives. Plans are accepted from schools that have a proven record of collaboration. Those plans that are accepted have to be approved by at least 65 percent of UFT members at the school who vote on the proposal.

These are meaningful hurdles to ensure the ingredients for success are in place. At the end of its second year, the program has succeeded in ways that we could not have imagined. This spring, 16 schools submitted detailed plans for ensuring that leadership and decision-making are fully distributed throughout the school community. Another 15 schools submitted plans to increase the diversity in their schools. Without PROSE, these ideas would not surface. Future applicants now will have access to successful PROSE plans they can adopt or adapt in ways that work for them and their schools.

It’s been a process of discovery for both us and the schools. We knew PROSE could succeed because teachers have an inherent need to try to figure out how best to reach their students and help them to learn. That’s the foundation of what PROSE is about. We encourage schools to say, “This is what we want in order to help our children.”

During the end-of-year PROSE school showcase at UFT headquarters on May 24, Chancellor Carmen Fariña, Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and Regents member Kathleen Cashin joined me and AFT President Randi Weingarten to hear about the innovations teachers are bringing to our schools through PROSE. Here are two stories teachers shared at the showcase.

At PS 71 in Ridgewood, Queens, teachers have come up with a way to embed collaboration and sharing during the school day. The challenge they set for themselves was to enable the full faculty to make frequent visits to each other’s classrooms, and make time to discuss what they observed and how they could replicate successful teaching strategies. Gary Fraboni, a 5th-grade teacher, said it was a tough sell because classroom observations are usually associated with evaluation, but he assured his colleagues that “we’re not here to get you but to share best practices.” Jeremy Pracher, a 4th-grade teacher in the same school, put it simply: “It’s about sharing resources. And we are the resources.” PROSE values teacher expertise, and it is heartening to hear teachers proudly proclaim it, after years of being attacked and pushed to the margins.

At the Brooklyn New School/PS 146 in Carroll Gardens, teacher Diane Castelucci and Principal Anna Allanbrook could see how gentrification in Brooklyn was affecting the diversity of the four districts from which the school draws its students. Their challenge is to maintain the diversity of their student body. The DOE gave them the enrollment flexibility they needed to pilot a new admissions policy starting with students entering kindergarten this September. After siblings and current pre-K students, the school will give priority to students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. They’ve also come up with a welcome committee, orientation and family picnic as ways to engage families in the local community. We know the solution to increasing diversity and desegregating our schools in our fast-changing neighborhoods must be organic. The Brooklyn New School came up with an idea that exemplifies that approach.

Other schools in the showcase highlighted their innovations in sharing decision-making, expanding learning time and creating flexible student programming.

This is teacher empowerment. This is what will lead education into the 21st century. PROSE exemplifies what the UFT has always sought for the teaching profession: collaboration, greater teacher voice in how teaching and learning is accomplished, opportunities for professional growth. And respect.