Center X partners with schools, districts and communities to transform public schooling. We value our public mission and make it a priority to study and communicate the impact of our efforts. Gauging the impact of people working across thirteen programs to transform public schools is a complex task. Center X uses a variety of indicators to understand the difference it is making across the educational system.

Statistics

Participation numbers and placements in Urban Schools

Stories

Spotlights on Center X educators and how they are working to transform urban schools

Ramon Antonio Martinez

For two years Ramon Martinez taught first grade in a bi-lingual classroom. Then Proposition 227, which required total English immersion, passed. He witnessed his colleagues’ reactions, their questions, their fears. And he decided to do what he knew was the right thing to do—based on what he knew was in the best interest of his students, based on sound social justice theory he learned in Center X's Teacher Education Program.
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Carol Jago

Carol Jago, Associate Director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA and soon-to-be-president of the National Council of Teachers of English, doesn’t need a spotlight. She radiates her own light. But no matter how far her light shines, she reflects back to Center X before it was Center X, back to 1977 when she was a fellow of the first UCLA Writing Project, back to 1986 when she was a part of the second California Literature Project (before it was the California Reading and Literature Project), back to her classroom where it all began. Read More...

Sid Thompson

Sid Thompson, a “senior fellow” at Center X, loves the ocean. That love took him to the sea as a Merchant Marine, getting his Bachelor of Science Degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. During the Korean conflict he served in the US Navy. This is where he slid into teaching. Many of the enlisted men, black and white, from urban cities like Los Angeles, or rural areas like Appalachia and the deep south, lacked high school diplomas and wanted to pass the GED. So Lieutenant Sid Thompson became a training officer, helping these young men attain their common goal, the equivalent of high school graduation. Read more...

Studies

Research and evaluation that measure the impact of Center X programs are featured in the Spring 2009 issue of XChange, our online repository of publications and resources on the work of transforming public schools.

The Careers of Urban Teachers
Author: Karen Hunter Quartz

This paper synthesizes the findings of a six-year longitudinal retention study of more than one thousand urban educators in their first through tenth year of the profession. The educators studied were graduates of UCLA's Center X Teacher Education Program and the results of the study may be generalized to the population of well-prepared urban teachers nationwide, with one exception. Although most Center X graduates are female (79%), which is similar to national trends, the group's ethnic and racial diversity contrasts sharply with national norms (though it reflects California's increasing diversity). The longitudinal study consisted of a range of quantitative and qualitative studies to answer the following questions:

1. What is the effect of specialized teacher preparation on retention?
   
2. What is the effect of career advancement on attrition among highly-qualified urban educators?
   
3. What individual and school characteristics are associated with retention in high-poverty schools?

This paper reports that Center X's specialized approach to teacher education had a positive impact on workplace retention, but not role retention. If they decided to stay in teaching, Center X graduates were much more likely than similar teachers nationwide to stay put in the same school over time. This finding has important implications for the organizational stability and potential reform of urban schools.

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