Gardner Center staff assemble on campus for a solar eclipse viewing party last August.
Homeless and Highly Mobile in San Francisco
San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) partnered with Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities to better track, understand, and support SFUSD's homeless and highly mobile student population.
Youth Sector Insights Podcast: Episode 2
I n this second episode of Youth Sector Insights, we hear from Gardner Center researchers Amy Gerstein and Laurel Sipes. Both Amy and Laurel help collaboratives develop skills of inquiry and data use to make collective, evidence-based decisions. In conversation with host Leslie Patron, the pair reflect on their experiences to build city-wide out-of-school-time systems for the Wallace Foundation's Next Generation Afterschool System Building Initiative.

Two questions at the crux of this episode: How do you get a diverse group to join forces around using data to better coordinate and deliver their services to youth? How do you help them to do so with rigor so that their efforts yield the greatest outcomes for the youth they collectively serve?



Our Amy Gerstein recently chatted live with professors emeriti Michael Kirst and Richard Scott about their book Higher Education and Silicon Valley: Connected but Conflicted . Our staff are proud to have collaborated with these professors on this important local research.
Gardner Perspectives: Three Strategies for Cultivating a Sense of Belonging Among Diverse Populations
"Sense of belonging — or belongingness — is the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. As a fellow, I worked with diverse populations, from at-risk youth in East Palo Alto to immigrants and newcomers in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks. I found that the desire to belong was uniting us all. In these populations in particular, I observed that historical barriers — such as stereotypes, underrepresentation in local narratives, and a lack of resources — kept community members from reaching their fullest potential. I came to ask myself: how do I cultivate a sense of belonging when populations face great barriers to fitting in ?" - Jemima Oso, 2016-17 Stanford Shinnyo Fellow
Join Our Team!
We are currently seeking a Research Data Manager to contribute significantly to our research projects, primarily working as a member of a new, multidisciplinary University-District collaboration, and reporting to senior research staff. The Research Data Manager will be responsible for establishing and maintaining a data archive, including the day-to-day processing of new and revised school districts’ data sets, database construction, data management, data documentation, and supporting teams of researchers by fulfilling data requests. 

Two New Books With Gardner Center Contributions
This important book explores how education time can be expanded, reimagined, and reorganized in an effort to enhance the educational opportunities and outcomes of disadvantaged students. The editors and contributors address questions of educational equity and opportunity by considering how best to extend learning time in high-poverty schools. Read more.
Drawing on quantitative and historical data from 1970 to 2012 as well as 14 case studies of colleges, this book describes a rich and often tense relationship between higher education and the tech industry. It focuses on the ways in which various types of colleges have endeavored—and often failed—to meet the demands of a vibrant economy and concludes with a discussion of current policy recommendations, suggestions for improvements and reforms at the state level, and a proposal to develop a regional body to better align educational and economic development. Read more.