Oakland Unified School District: The nation's first full-service community school district

In 2010, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) launched an ambitious effort — to become the nation's first full-service community school district. The Gardner Center has collaborated with OUSD since then to examine the implementation of the community school model and its impact on the students and communities it serves.

The challenge

The Oakland Unified School District is a large, ethnically diverse district with students who experience multiple barriers to learning, including poverty, chronic health problems, and trauma. Meanwhile, many students are multilingual learners who speak one of 50 languages at home.

These are exactly the challenges a community schools model is designed to address, but the transition involves a significant adjustment from a hierarchical, top-down system of governance to a collaborative leadership model that includes teachers, administrators, staff, and students; parents and family members; local government services; and nonprofit organizations.

The solution

The long-term partnership between OUSD and the Gardner Center was designed to help the district understand what was working so it could roll out the program most effectively across the district — and inform other districts with similar ambitions.

The result was a series of publications from 2012 through 2020 examining the philosophy behind the community schools approach, the practical steps taken at various schools in pursuit of this model, the people who were most involved in these efforts, and the results of the changes — from easily measurable (higher math scores, lower suspension rates) to more subjective (changes in campus culture that increase teacher retention).

Key takeaways

As documented in multiple publications and an accompanying series of school case studies, the Gardner Center identified a number of ingredients for success, including:

An intensive input process from over 350 community meetings as well as youth surveys and family focus groups to encourage buy-in from community organizations and parents as well as school administrators, faculty, staff, and students

A collaborative leadership approach that acknowledges the role of multiple stakeholders and that engages the principal, community school manager, key partners, and teachers in long-term planning and coordination

On-campus health and wellness services that remove barriers to student learning by providing primary health care, dental care, vision testing, and mental health counseling

Afterschool and summer programs — which may be provided by community-based organizations — that become a normal part of the school day and year