UC Berkeley’s research partnerships with SFUSD extend over twenty years, spanning diverse topics such as science assessment, high school trajectories, nutrition services, and school transportation. In early 2017, leaders at SFUSD sought to formalize these relationships through an institutional-level partnership between the district and UC Berkeley across multiple schools and disciplines. The joint research agenda builds on existing partnerships with San Francisco Peer Resources and SFUSD’s School Health Programs in service of SFUSD’s equity and social justice goals, converging on interventions to support wellness, reduce absenteeism, address homelessness, and mitigate racial bias. The work includes a strong emphasis on promoting recognition and value of community-engaged research(link is external)(link is external) at each respective institution. The partnership seeks to establish a robust foundation for supporting the wide range of research projects conducted in partnership between UC Berkeley and SFUSD. Our RPP was honored to receive the Chancellor’s Award for Campus-Community Partnership in recognition of our joint work to improve wellbeing and quality of life. We are grateful for prior major support of our RPP by a William T. Grant Foundation Institutional Challenge Grant (2020-26), jointly supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, as well as support from the Spencer Foundation.
SFUSD and Berkeley members of the RPP at the annual meeting of the UCB Community-Engaged Research Network meeting
Overview
One key illustration of our community-partnered approach is the SF Unified School District-UC Berkeley Research-Practice Partnership (RPP). Community-engaged partnerships in education are usually known as research-practice partnerships(link is external). This RPP builds on multiple longstanding research collaborations of Berkeley investigators with diverse SFUSD departments, bridging faculty across disciplines and units who came together in 2018 to work collectively with SFUSD to advance their equity and social justice goals.
The RPP has a cross-disciplinary and cross-unit structure to draw on expertise across the Berkeley campus. It is co-led on the Berkeley side by Dean Susan Stone (Social Welfare) and Professor Emily Ozer (Public Health), with the following Steering Committee members: Professor Colette (Coco) Auerswald (Public Health), Assistant Professor Maggie Chan (Education), Assistant Professor Sean Darling-Hammond (Public Health), Associate Dean Joyce Dorado (Social Welfare), Professor Deborah McKoy (City & Regional Planning), Associate Professor Valerie Shapiro (Social Welfare/Public Health), Assistant Professor Eos Trinidad (Education) and Professor Qing Zhou (Psychology).
Blog
Research Briefs
