At the Gardner Center, we focus on questions our community partners raise about issues that matter to youth. Our interdisciplinary research team represents expertise in design and methods, schools and school districts, youth development, community engagement, and education policy. We foster a collaborative approach to research in which we work alongside our community partners. Practitioners and policymakers can then use findings from this research to effect change.
Milbrey McLaughlin, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, founded the Gardner Center at Stanford in 2000. It is the only organization to which John W. Gardner lent his name.
Nearly 10 years ago, school leaders in Oakland, California, launched the first district-level initiative of its kind in the nation: a program targeted exclusively to black male high schoolers that was a part of their regular classes during the school day.
A new study shows that an achievement program targeted to black male students lowered high school dropout rates.
