Publications

This report provides practitioners and researchers with an interactive roadmap that documents how educators and researchers partnered to pilot and design a community-based self-assessment system composed of self-assessment instruments (i.e., tools, assessment measures) and classroom routines (i.e., instructional practices that promote self-assessment skills) across grade-levels (grades 2 – 12).

This paper describes the collective problem-solving process that unfolded over a decade as researchers and practitioners worked together to expand access to college for traditionally underrepresented students. The paper describe three practical problems—how to frame, support, and track a college-for-all reform effort—and details how grappling with these problems locally provides unique insight into the larger college-for-all policy context.

In this brief, we discuss the value of play, highlight playful learning approaches at the UCLA Community School, and introduce organizations that advocate for play-based learning policies. We also provide suggestions and further reading for teachers and families.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the movement, longstanding Pilot School partners from the Center for Powerful Public Schools and the UCLA Center for Community Schooling joined with the Pilot School Organization to take stock of the collective experience of 47 schools.

Read the Full ReportThere is a nationwide epidemic of public school closures. Researchers who study school closures in urban communities attribute them to structural racism, divestment in Black communities, deindustrialization,…

This brief describes the UCLA Community School’s efforts to address and meet the needs of undocumented students. We describe the school context as well as the symbiotic relationship between research and practice. We conclude by providing resources and considerations for practitioners to better support undocumented students on their campus.

Learning in residence is a powerful approach to teacher education that pairs apprentices with mentor teachers, supported by university coursework and urban communities. In this issue of the Center XChange, UCLA faculty, staff, students, and partners share their work over the past five years to create and study an urban teacher residency program called IMPACT: Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers.

In this report, we assemble a diverse set of perspectives to answer how to measure good teaching.  We take the stand that there should be multiple measures of good teaching—including evidence about student learning—and that these measures should form the basis for both evaluating teachers and, most importantly, guiding teachers’ professional growth.