Striving for Relationship-Centered Schools: Insights from a Community-Based Transformation Campaign. Brief

While research indicates that relationship-centered environments support student learning and success, it has been difficult to redesign secondary schools based on the factory model in ways that center relationships, particularly at the secondary level. This brief to the full report focuses on efforts to advance relationship-centering schooling in high schools. It examines the Relationship Centered Schools (RCS) campaign, a youth-led effort supported by Californians for Justice (CFJ) and conducted in collaboration with educators and district leaders. The study focuses on two settings--the Long Beach Unified School District and Fresno's McLane High School--and the efforts of local actors to center relationship-building as a catalyst for change.