CORE Districts is a consortium of eight urban school districts in California. CORE Districts develops procedures, practices, and research and provides data on school and student progress. While member districts do pay for part of the expenses, left-of-center foundations provide much of the funding to CORE Districts.

History

CORE Districts began in 2010 as 10 school districts came together to discuss challenges and collaborate on developing new approaches. ¹ Additionally, it was an attempt to unify to receive federal grant funding under the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative. ² While CORE Districts was denied the grant, the 10 districts were the only local school districts in the country to later be granted a waiver from the federal requirements of No Child Left Behind. ³

Under the waiver, the districts that comprise CORE Districts developed their own metrics and data systems on school and student performance. ⁴ Eventually, two of the school districts dropped out and today CORE Districts consists of eight largely urban members. ⁵ CORE Districts includes the Fresno Unified, Garden Grove Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Long Beach Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento Unified, San Francisco Unified, and Santa Ana Unified school districts. ⁶

Work

CORE Districts focuses on multiple issues in two main areas: programs and data. Through programs, CORE Districts provides guidance for school improvement, district improvement, capability building programs, and overall research. ⁷ With school improvement, work is being done with 9^th graders to prepare them for postsecondary success by providing best practices such as helping to transition, building teams, strong adult relationships, and best scheduling and grading practices. ⁸ CORE Districts provides facilitators to help schools and districts with district improvements and capacity building. ⁹ Through research done by the eight school district members, CORE Districts provides findings and reports to members. ¹⁰

CORE Districts focuses on various data from individual schools, districts, and the state to examine trends. ¹¹ Metrics are uploaded in real time such as student performance by subject matter; absentee rates; suspensions; the climate of the student, staff, and families; and social skills and dynamics. ¹² There are determined metrics used that provide data over time, by various data measures. Some are internal while others are available to the public to see a school’s current environment. ¹³

Finances

In 2020, CORE Districts reported $7,878,612 in revenue and $8,238,717 in expenses. ¹⁴ CORE Districts has $5,378,802 in assets. ¹⁵ CORE Districts states a large portion of its funds comes from school district fees and has stated while it also relies on donations from foundations, in the future it does not intend to rely on large foundation donations and will derive most of its income from school districts. ¹⁶  For the FY2020-2021 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District paid CORE Districts over $63,000 for a software subscription and support. ¹⁷

CORE Districts has noted four major foundation funders on its website. ¹⁸ Since 2017, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has awarded CORE Districts $1.2 million in grant money. ¹⁹ The S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation has awarded CORE Districts $2.6 million in grants since 2015. ²⁰ CORE Districts also lists the Stuart Foundation as an additional funder of the organization. ²¹

Since 2015, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded CORE Districts $30,765,210 in grant money. ²² This includes: a 58-month, $8,219,719 grant in September 2020 for evidence-based interventions; ²³ in June 2018, a 5-year $14,577,733 grant to launch a 5-year network for school improvement; ²⁴ a 19-month grant of $464,750 in July 2017 to extend CORE Districts’ indicators of college success; ²⁵ and in March 2016, a 13-month grant for $500,000 for general support. ²⁶

Leadership

Richard “Rick” Miller is the CEO of CORE Districts. ²⁷ Miller is also a partner at Capitol Impact, a consulting organization that does strategy, management development, and project management for organizations that includes CORE Districts as one of its clients. ²⁸ Capitol Impact is also CORE Districts’ second largest expenditure for program and management expenses. ²⁹ From 2003-2010, Miller was deputy superintendent at the California Department of Education. ³⁰ He previously worked for Microsoft and California State University. ³¹ During the Clinton administration, Miller was press secretary to the Secretary of Education. ³²

1. Knudson, Joel, and Mark Garibaldi. “None of Us are as Good as All of Us: Early Lessons from the CORE Districts.” American Institute for Research. August 2015. https://coredistricts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AIR-Report-August-2015.pdf.
2. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 6, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/.
3. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 6, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/.
4. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 6, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/.
5. CORE Districts website. “Building Continuous Improvement.” www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 6, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CORETheoryofActionandFocusAreas2020.pdf.
6. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 6, 2021. https://coredistricts.org.
7. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/our-work/
8. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/our-work/school-improvement/.
9. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/our-work/.
10. ^[1] CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/our-work/capability-building-programs/.
11. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/our-improvement-data/.
12. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://dashboard.coredistricts.org/public/core.
13. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://dashboard.coredistricts.org/public/core.
14. Form 990: CORE Districts, 2020.
15. Form 990: CORE Districts, 2020.
16. Form 990: CORE Districts, Part VI, 2020.
17. San Francisco Unified School District Contract and Purchase Order with CORE Districts. November 17, 2020. Accessed November 8, 2021. https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Core-Districts-and-Panorama-Education_San-Francisco-USD_2020-11-05_Contract-and-purchase-order.pdf.
18. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/funders/.
19. ^[1] William and Flora Hewlett Foundation website. www.hewlett.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://hewlett.org/grants/core-districts-for-general-operating-support-2/.
20. S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation website. www.sdbjrfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://maps.foundationcenter.org/#/map/?subjects=all&popgroups=all&years=all&location=6295630&excludeLocation=0&geoScale=ADM1&layer=recip&boundingBox=-139.219,-31.354,135,66.513&gmOrgs=all&recipOrgs=all&tags=all&keywords=&pathwaysOrg=&pathwaysType=&acct=Bechtel&typesOfSupport=all&transactionTypes=all&amtRanges=all&minGrantAmt=0&maxGrantAmt=0&gmTypes=all&minAssetsAmt=0&maxAssetsAmt=0&minGivingAmt=0&maxGivingAmt=0&andOr=0&includeGov=1&custom=all&customArea=all&indicator=&dataSource=oecd&chartType=trends&multiSubject=1&listType=gm&windRoseAnd=undefined&zoom=2.
21. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/funders/.
22. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. www.gatesfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=core%20districts#jump-nav-anchor0.
23. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. www.gatesfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2020/09/inv016318.
24. ^[1] Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. www.gatesfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2018/06/opp1190002.
25. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. www.gatesfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2017/07/opp1177016.
26. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. www.gatesfoundation.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2016/03/opp1150759.
27. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/staff/.
28. Rick Miller LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com. Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-miller-43b24229/; Capitol Impact LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/company/capitol-impact/.
29. Form 990: CORE Districts, 2020.
30. Rick Miller LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com. Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-miller-43b24229/
31. Rick Miller LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com. Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-miller-43b24229/
32. CORE Districts website. www.coredistricts.org. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://coredistricts.org/about-us/staff/.