School Improvement

Here's how PICO is working to make sure every young person graduates from high school prepared for college or meaningful work:

Small Schools

Recognizing the value of small schools, particularly for low-income youth, PICO California projects in Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley, and San Francisco have successfully lobbied for the creation of new small schools and for the conversion of large schools into small autonomous schools.

Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) crafted the first comprehensive small schools policy in the nation, resulting over 50 new schools and a strategy to transform the entire Oakland school system to support high quality instruction for all children. The small autonomous schools movement in Oakland is now serving as a model for school districts across the country that want to provide parents with high quality public education choices for their children, and PICO affiliates in San Jose and San Francisco have created small schools that rank at the top of their districts. Learn more >>

Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project

Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT) created the first large-scale parent engagement strategy based on teacher home visits. Better communication between home and school helps both teachers and parents do their jobs better. With support from the California Teachers Association, PICO has won state legislation and federal funding for this innovative strategy which is now being used by more than 600 schools across the country.

Today, parent-teacher home visit projects are in place in dozens of schools throughout the state and a separate not-for-profit organization continues to train parents, teachers, and administrators in this highly effective model of home-school collaboration.

Effective Teachers

Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (OCCCO) successfully organized in 1999 for the creation of 12 new teaching positions at Kennedy High School in Richmond, an inner city school that had long been plagued by high teacher turnover.

Statewide, PICO California co-sponsored legislation that became law in 2005 mandating that schools disclose the average salary paid to teachers. This new reporting requirement will enable parents and community groups to unmask the significant differences in experience levels - and subsequently salaries - of teachers in schools even within a single district.