Organized Communities, Stronger Schools

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Publication Date: 
May 2009

THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY AND YOUTH ORGANIZING ON PUBLIC SCHOOL REFORM
Since the emergence of education organizing for school reform in the early 1990s, organizers, researchers, and foundations have debated the impact of community organizing on educational outcomes. The Annenberg Institute, with funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, conducted a six-year research study – the first of its kind – to examine this question. The study looked at organizing efforts by residents of seven urban communities across the country to improve their public schools. We aimed to document their organizing campaigns and measure the impact on three critical indictors of education reform: district-level policy, school-level capacity, and student outcomes.  

CASE STUDY SERIES

We have developed a series of seven case studies based on our research. Each case documents the organizing efforts of a community group in a site and its effect on resource equity and district accountability for improved educational outcomes. In Oakland, Austin, and Miami, where the education reform strategy was in place for at least five years, we also examined trends in school capacity and student educational outcomes. In the other sites, where the reforms were either too new or not intensive enough to assess outcomes directly, we focused on documenting the group’s organizing efforts and examining preliminary indicators of impact.

The community organizing groups, the study sites, and some tangible results of their organizing are:

  • Austin Interfaith
    BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS TO REINVENT SCHOOL CULTURE
    Through the Alliance Schools network, the group created new parent and school leadership, brought new resources to the district, and improved student performance.
    > Summary, case study, findings

  • Chicago ACORN (work currently led by Action Now)
    RETHINKING THE TEACHER PIPELINE FOR AN URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
    Organizing led to a new statewide, cross-sector program to train community residents as teachers for hard-to-staff schools.
    > Summary, case study, findings

  • Community Coalition (Los Angeles)
    SECURING A COLLEGE PREP CURRICULUM FOR ALL STUDENTS
    Youth-led organizing and a citywide coalition resulted in a new district resolution mandating a college preparatory curriculum for all high schools. 
    > Summary, case study, findings

  • Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project and Youth United for Change (Philadelphia)
    KEEPING THE VOICES OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS AT THE FOREFRONT OF REFORM
    Organizing won greater parental access to school information, and new small high schools showed gains in attendance and student college-going plans.
  • > Summary, case study, findings

  • Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Sistas and Brothas United
    IMPROVING SCHOOLS THROUGH YOUTH LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY ACTION
    New school facilities and repairs relieved overcrowding and youth leaders collaborated with educators to open a new small high school with a youth leadership and community action model.
    > Summary, case study, findings

  • Oakland Community Organizations
    BUILDING A DISTRICTWIDE SMALL SCHOOLS MOVEMENT
    Organizing led to the creation of forty-eight new small schools, which fundamentally transformed the district landscape.
    > Summary, case study, findings

  • People Acting for Community Together (Miami)
    BUILDING A CAMPAIGN FOR READING REFORM IN MIAMI
    A new literacy program and extensive community engagement improved community–school relationships and helped to raise low reading achievement in twenty-seven elementary schools. 
    > Summary, case study, findings

RELATED PUBLICATION

Community Organizing for Stronger Schools: Strategies and Successes
32 by AISR researchers Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah, and Sara McAlister
Published by Harvard Education press. October 2009.

Drawing on a six-year national study, Community Organizing for Stronger Schools offers a richly textured analysis of community organizing for school reform. The authors examine the role of organizing in building social and political capital and improving educational outcomes for students in some of the nation’s most challenged school districts.
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