This episode marks the end of the Community Room Podcast! From Bal, Gayle and Corbin, thank you to all our guests, listeners and supporters throughout this incredible journey. We hope you all have enjoyed these enriching conversations as much as we have.

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The California Community Schools Partnership Program supports schools efforts to partner with community agencies and local government to align community resources to improve student outcomes. California’s state government invested a historic $3 billion dollars into the California Community Schools Partnership Program with the aim of transforming schools into community hubs that deliver a whole child education.

The approach is more than just a monetary investment. UCLA is involved and have created the UCLA Center for Community Schooling. The director, Karen Hunter-Quartz led an effort to start the UCLA community school - a school that features bilingual programs in both Spanish and Korean, mirroring the languages most students speak at home in Koreatown - where the school is located. There is an on campus immigration law clinic which represents students and parents seeking visas, or asylum. Hunter-Quartz described the concept of community schools in a question “how can we design schools differently to promote these small, nurturing communities?” Her vision of the community schools that were to come were schools that embodied the four pillars of community schools:

But UCLA has also developed Center X, which serves as the intersection of research and educational practice - a place where its roots are in the activist community. Initially conceived in 1992 in response to the Rodney King verdict and subsequent uprisings, Center X strives to challenge the status quo that perpetuates inequity, poor educational practice, and racism. Center X, 30 years later, is continuing to fight for racial justice. Patrisse Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter, is an alumni of Center X. Center X does not claim that these gaps or inequities will be solved by schools alone, but it is committed to public schooling as one of the best democratic spaces for working to become a better, more just society.



RESOURCES:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/ccspp.asp

QUOTE:

"To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination."
- Bell Hooks

BIO:

Annamarie Francois has over 35 years experience in education, in the areas of teaching, program development, teacher preparation and leadership. She was the director of UCLA’s Centre X’s community and equity-based teacher preparation programs for several years- and was recently appointed associate dean of public engagement of the UCLA school of education and information studies, and she represents them in local, state and national convenings. She has a long history of leading innovative educational initiatives focused on developing anti-racist, student-centered practices in education and is an advisor and representative on numerous boards. Dr. Francois’ linked-in description says she is “igniting collaborative good trouble to transform the future of K-16 education

Dr. Karen Hunter Quartz currently serves as the Research Director for UCLA Community Schools. Quartz is also adjunct professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Throughout her career, Quartz has co-authored several articles for publications like Teachers College Record and Equity and Excellence in Education.
Quartz’s research, teaching, and writing focus on new school development; the struggle to recruit, prepare, and retain good urban teachers; the measurement of effective teaching; and the use of data and research to improve practice in schools. In 2007, Dr. Quartz led the design team to create the UCLA Community School, a K-12 university-partnered neighborhood public school. She is currently working on an effort to design a second UCLA Community School site in collaboration with Horace Mann Middle School in South Los Angeles. Her role as the schools’ research director involves supporting research-practice partnerships on a variety of topics, including: dual language learning; formative assessment; improvement cycles; technology integration; and college-going culture and postsecondary pathways. .