Since the emergence of education organizing for school reform in the early 1990s, education organizers, researchers, and foundation supporters have debated the impact of community organizing on student educational outcomes. A six-year research study by the Annenberg Institute, funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, examined the work of eight community organizations to improve education outcomes in their urban school districts and the impact of their efforts on schools.

The study was guided by two central questions:

• Does the effort to equalize power dynamics — the core of the organizing approach — change the nature of accountability and quality of engagement between schools and communities?
  
  
• Does the new responsiveness and/or collaboration generated by community-based efforts to equalize power dynamics lead to new priorities and capacities within schools and communities that can facilitate successful learning for all children?

Study Overview

In the study, we examined eight community organizing groups across the country using a rigorous mixed methods design, using both qualitative and quantitative data. We engaged in a collaborative research process with the sites, sharing preliminary findings at each state of the analysis, so that their intimate knowledge of their work and of the school, district, and community contexts could inform our interpretation and understanding of the data.

The study consisted of two major phases. In the first, we aimed to delineate a conceptual framework linking organizing processes to school and community change. In the second phase, we used the conceptual framework as a guide in assessing the impact of organizing processes on school and district capacity.

We carried out extensive fieldwork in eight study sites: Action Now* (Chicago, Illinois); Austin Interfaith (Austin, Texas); Community Coalition and its youth organizing arm, South Central Youth Empowered thru Action (Los Angeles, California); Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project and its youth organizing affiliate, Youth United for Change (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and its youth organizing arm, Sistas and Brothas United (Bronx, New York); Oakland Community Organizations (Oakland, California); and People Acting for Community Together (Miami, Florida).

*Note: In Chicago, the study follows the organizing efforts led by the director and staff of Action Now. At the time of our fieldwork, these individuals were affiliated with Illinois ACORN.

The study found strong and consistent evidence that sophisticated grassroots organizing at the grassroots level can indeed make major contributions to improving student achievement and other important areas such as school climate and parent engagement.

> More on Key Findings

Funder
The study has been generously funded by the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation


Contact Person
Kavitha Mediratta
Principal Associate
Kavitha_Mediratta@brown.edu

Seema Shah
Senior Research Associate
S_shah@brown.edu