Presentations

  • Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings
    Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah, & Sara McAlister
    American Educational Research Association, 2008
    This presentation previews findings from a six year longitudinal study of the impacts of community organizing on school reform. Using multiple research traditions, theory of change methodology, and quantitative and qualitative methods, this 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.
  • Individual Impacts of Youth Organizing for School Reform
    Seema Shah & Sara McAlister
    Society for Community Research and Action, 2007
    This presentation presents an analysis of interview and survey data, and explores how young people´s sense of agency, world view, political engagement behaviors, and education-related behaviors have been impacted by their involvement in organizing.
  • Building Parent Engagement & Leadership: A National Perspective Seema Shah & Kavitha Mediratta
    American Educational Research Association, 2007
    This presentation describes the ways in which parents are drawn into community organizing efforts, how they are trained and developed as leaders, and the different roles parents take on in school improvement campaigns.
  • The Impacts of Community Organizing on School & District Capacity
    Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah, Sara McAlister, & Christina Mokhtar
    Convening of Study Sites, 2007
    This presentation highlights findings from interview, survey, and administrative data to illustrate the ways in which community organizing groups have impacted school and district capacity to educate students successfully.
  • Policy & Individual Impacts of Youth Organizing for School Reform: Key Research Findings
    Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah & Sara McAlister
    Convening of Study Sites, 2007
    This presentation identifies the school and district-level impacts of youth organizing for high school reform, and examines the impact of involvement in organizing on the civic and political engagement of youth.
  • Educator Perspectives on Community Organizing for Education Reform
    Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah & Sara McAlister
    American Educational Research Association, 2006
    This presentation examines how school, district, municipal, and state-level educators and policymakers perceive the education work of community organizing groups.
  • Constituents of Change: Community Organizations & Public School Reform
    Kavitha Mediratta
    American Educational Research Association, 2005
    This presentation describes the conceptual framework for the research, and uses case studies of Chicago ACORN and Oakland Community Organizations to illustrate distinctive organizing methodologies and campaign strategies.
  • Community Organizing for School Reform: It's Growing and Getting Results
    Kavitha Mediratta
    National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, 2005
    This presentation provides an overview of community organizing for school reform and describes the diverse strategies groups use to create change within schools and districts.