The Way We Do School

<I>The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland's Full-Service Community School District</I> offers an in-depth profile of the nation's most ambitious community school initiative. The book focuses on a nearly ten-year effort to transform all eighty-six district schools in Oakland, California into community schools in order to better meet the academic and personal needs of all students.<BR/><BR/> Based on six years of research, the authors detail the implementation of the effort at both the district and school levels, including the detailed, community-wide planning process, the policy 'levers' for system change as well as the organizational shifts and other tools that were employed.<BR/><BR/> Under extraordinarily difficult conditions, Oakland's Community Schools, Thriving Students initiative spurred system change at both central office and school levels. Though still a work-in-progress, the initiative's 'whole-child approach' has resulted in positive outcomes for students and for the district. In addition, several elements of Oakland's full-service community schools (FSCS) work have been recognized nationally including the African American Male Achievement program, its district partnership model, and its restorative justice and social-emotional learning practices.<BR/><BR/><I>The Way We Do School</I> illustrates how the implementation of Oakland's full-service community school initiative and its remarkable stability over time provide many lessons for the community school field and most especially for policy makers and practitioners interested in launching a district-led FSCS system.