Bridging Research + Practice

OCEAN is a network of partnerships between K-12 schools, non-profit organizations, and the UCI School of Education. We engage in actionable scholarship to positively impact the diverse communities that we partner with. We have a particular focus on contributing to our local Orange County area, but our faculty and students also develop partnerships throughout Southern California, the United States and other regions.

About Us

At the UCI School of Education

We develop research-practice partnerships between local educators and researchers at UCI. Our mission is to help develop community partnerships that foster: collaboration, mutual respect, community needs and priorities, and the use of research to improve learning and education in our region. Our core capacity at OCEAN is to conduct research that can inform the decisions and improvement efforts of our partners.

How You Can Help

Provide a Gift

Financial support from local donors helps to fund a community partnership site for one or more years. Contributions to our endowment fund will support a partnership fellowship in perpetuity.

Support OCEAN

Become a Partner

If your school or community organization would like to partner with OCEAN who bring research and design expertise, please contact us with your interest.

Learn more

Join our Programs

Graduate students who want to combine their training with community-engaged research, please join one of our Graduate Community Research Fellowship programs, workshops and a community-based research project.

Be a Community Fellow

From our Partners

“El Sol’s partnership with the UCI School of Education allows us to consider in both practical and theoretical terms, the educational practices that best serve our school community. We especially appreciate the diversity of thought, experience and background embodied in the UCI faculty. Our projects together are exciting, challenging and at the edge of new thinking in the educational space!”
Monique Daviss, Executive Director, El Sol Science and Arts Academy

“Improving the educational outcomes for students from underrepresented backgrounds requires a systemic, collaborative and timely solution and OCEAN is the vehicle to get there. This is about our community, about the lives of so many and I am excited because OCEAN is the path to a better future for countless students in Orange County and beyond. It takes a village, and this is it.”
Alex Serna, Executive Director, Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano

Projects & Successes

Support SystemOctober 20, 2021
The School of Education’s OCEAN network is leading stakeholders across Orange County to improve support for foster and housing insecure youth. An article recently appeared in the 2021 edition of the School of Education magazine, advancing. Read more here
OCEAN in the NewsOctober 20, 2021
Recently, OCEAN’s work appeared in two UCI publications. Check them out here: Building Solidarity with Communities: UCI researchers across campus take an inclusive, collaborative approach to working in local areas. Read more. Philanthropy Supports TransformativePartnerships with Orange County Schools “When a world-class School of Education, local K-12 teachers, principals, studentsContinue reading “OCEAN in the News”
Research Update: Reimagining Educational Equity and Opportunity (REEO)June 26, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic required schools, educators, and families to pivot to new modes of learning and revealed pressing issues of access for families across Orange County. In July 2020, the UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence awarded a group of School of Education professors a grant in its “Are We in This Together?Continue reading “Research Update: Reimagining Educational Equity and Opportunity (REEO)”