The work of the Community Involvement Program is guided by a grassroots vision of school reform. We provide training support, organizing strategy, data analysis, and policy research to support urban communities in their struggle for school improvement.

We believe that urban public schools fail when communities are disenfranchised and economically and socially marginalized. We therefore assist in strengthening the power, leadership and vision of neighborhood-based institutions to hold all levels of school systems accountable for educating students well.

We support community and youth organizing in New York City, provide educational data analysis, provide strategic support on the community engagement, and conduct research and policy analysis.

The Community Involvement Program was initiated in 1996 by staff at the Institute for Education and Social Policy, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University. The Community Involvement Program joined the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University in September 2006.

What's New

Strategies to Improve Data Collection on New York’s Homeless Students

Conducted at the request of the New York State Education Department this study investigates barriers to identifying homeless students in local districts and how these barriers might be surmounted. It also analyzes ways in which the state's processes for collecting data on homeless students might be improved.
Carol Ascher, Carolyn Jarvis, & Christina Mokhtar
[PDF:43 pages, 504 KB]

Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings

Using multiple research traditions, theory of change methodology, and quantitative and qualitative methods, this six year study found that community organizing helps expand the capacity of urban public schools to support student success by building support for reform alternatives, increasing equity in the distribution of resources, and generating meaningful parent, youth, and community engagement focused on improved student learning.
Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah & Sara McAlister (2008)
[PDF: 41 pages, 792 KB]