By Becca Minkoff

21CSLA Bay Area Regional Academy (BARA), in collaboration with Principal Investigator Rebecca Cheung, connected Dr. Sean Darling-Hammond’s research with the Bay Area Geographic Leads Consortium to host the Improvement in Action: African American/Black Student Success Networked Improvement Community (NIC) series throughout 2025–26.

Learning and Improving Together

The NIC engaged five districts: one each in Contra Costa, San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties, along with San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). From September 2025 to March 2026, ten improvement teams from these districts participated in six network sessions. Teams included district and school administrators, coordinators, coaches, and teacher leaders.

Each district or school team implemented a change idea during the 2025–26 school year. Seven of the ten sites reported reductions in African American/Black student suspension rates, with the average rate decreasing from 17% to 11%.

In the final session, teams agreed that further investigation into contributing factors would help clarify where to focus future iterations of the work, since the data examined reflected only part of the academic year.

Building on the Learning

The evaluation report summarizes results and reflections on lessons learned from the intensive work with the improvement teams.

A new cohort has already launched for 2026–27, with Dr. Darling-Hammond and Principal Investigator Cheung reprising their roles in collaboration with Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) leadership.