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.

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.