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The database will bridge historic gaps in knowledge about the students’ progress from one level of schooling to the next: For the first time, outcomes will be tracked across the years.

“It’s an enormous opportunity to follow the kids from elementary into high school,” Gerstein said. “What are their learning patterns? What are the different factors that seem to be predictive of their success? What does their trajectory look like over time?”

School officials say the data archive could also widen their own view of that trajectory. “A student’s designation as English-proficient for certain placements in ninth grade shouldn’t be considered the finish line,” said Michael Milliken, PhD ’05 and superintendent of the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, one of the eight K-8 districts in the collaborative.

“For us, having a sense of our students’ high school graduation rates and college preparation shows us where we’re having success and where we’re not,” he said. “We’re able to see where we may need to intervene more purposely.”

Initial research projects

In addition to creating the database, the collaborative has several research projects underway that are focused on specific topics affecting ELs. One project, led by GSE Associate Dean and Professor Shelley Goldman, looks at ways to apply design thinking strategies to support teachers in classrooms with few ELs. Another, led by GSE professors Guadalupe Valdés and Guillermo Solano-Flores, explores the challenges of properly identifying, assessing and supporting students who have been categorized as long-term English learners (LTELs) as required by California and federal policy.

“There’s a fine line between support and marginalization,” said Valdés. “My hope is that we’ll be able to provide for schools a clearer idea of where that line might be. Are there better assessment instruments they could use? What are the instructional solutions that are now in play, and how effective are they for different students?”  

Five GSE faculty, four doctoral students and numerous staff from two GSE research centers are involved in the collaborative. Preliminary research has helped focus and deepen the study inquiries this year, and researchers hope to begin sharing findings more widely in 2019.   

The vulnerability of sharing data

For the superintendents—most of whom have collaborated with one another but not in a sustained, systemic way—the experience of participating in the collaborative goes beyond coalescing around best practices.

“There’s real potential here to develop more of a system across these nine districts, to knit us together a little more neatly,” said Milliken. The work could redirect and strengthen the districts, he added, “so that we’re not just coordinating and working together better, but that we’re collectively more capable.”

In an era of increasing accountability, Gerstein noted, it takes courage for school administrators to share their data.

“It’s a very public process,” she said. “The districts took risks putting their findings out there for the whole collaborative to see.” (Data are shared in the aggregate, Gerstein said, to protect student confidentiality.)

Districts drive the research agenda

The research questions are driven by district priorities. The theme of supporting English learners emerged over the past two years during a set of convenings led by staff at California Education Partners, a nonprofit established by the Silver Giving Foundation to promote collaboration among school systems throughout the state.

California Education Partners coordinates both the ������������-Sequoia Collaborative and the ������������-SFUSD Partnership.

“A key piece of the research-practice partnership is the act of creating and working on the research projects together,” said Michelle Nayfack, associate director of research-practice partnerships at California Education Partners. “The districts want to make research-driven decisions, but they often need research support that feels closely connected to their specific problems of practice.”

The collaboration has been a learning experience for both school personnel and researchers, said Solano-Flores. 

“I’ve always worked with schools and teachers, but never in the context of a partnership, which has a higher level of formality, commitment and coordination,” he said. “We have to understand their needs, what they want to know, what challenges they’re facing—and they need to also understand the kinds of things we [researchers] are able or not able to do in a relatively short time.”