This study was part of an eight-year research-practice partnership between Oakland Unified School District and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. Dr. Fehrer served as lead and co-lead of the project throughout the duration.

What we did: We started by working with OUSD district staff to develop a theory of change, capturing their understanding of community school transformation. We then identified five school sites with high quality implementation—determined by both noted increases in student and school indicators, as well as district staff’s professional judgement on strong practices. We then conducted interviews with administrators, teachers, counselors, support staff, and community partners at each of the five sites. Our resulting research highlighted common patterns in implementation, elevated best practices, and identified areas for growth.

Findings: Our research underscored common organizational and leadership practices in well-implemented community school sites, including the centrality of the principal-community school coordinator relationship, an effective coordination of services team, and exceptional integration of community partners into the school’s fabric.

Results: The research supported district staff to refine their selection criteria for future community school implementation sites, codify five priority areas for community school manager’s annual workplan, prioritize professional development support for principals, and invest in district-level infrastructure to support strong site-level partnership development.

The research cited here was also later published as the book, The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland’s Full-Service Community School District (Harvard Education Press 2020), co-authored by Dr. Fehrer.