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ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS NARRATIVE PROJECT: EDUCATION TRUST-WEST/SOBRATO PHILANTHROPIES

• Challenge: In 2022, we were commissioned  by Education Trust-West/Sobrato Philanthropies to help them better understand and address the underlying beliefs and assumptions about multilingual learners — including K-12 English learners and young dual language learners — and champion a new narrative that centered asset orientations, racial equity, and youth voice.

• Strategy: We designed a three-part research and messaging project, which included: an extensive review and synthesis of existing literature and messaging material; qualitative interviews with key stakeholders, including advocates in the field, teachers, students, and parents; the development and administration of a statewide representational survey; message testing and audience segmentation; and finally the creation of a messaging guide to be distributed to the wider field.

• Impact: Research revealed key actionable insights establishing that there was fertile ground for a new narrative related to English learners and dual language learners in California.

UNDERSTANDING THE NARRATIVE CHANGE PROCESS: THE OPPORTUNITY AGENDA

• Challenge: As part of the Gates Foundation’s broader efforts to understand the mechanism that results in narrative change and what elements can be replicated across the field, The Opportunity Agenda received funding to conduct research to examine the communication efforts of advocates working to shift the narrative on a range of issue areas. 

• Strategy: We designed case studies that examined advocates' efforts to reshape the narrative in six different issues areas. In all, we interviewed twenty-eight individuals whose input was critical to our understanding of how the narratives had changed over time.  For example, in the case of the death penalty, our interviewees include Bryan Stevenson, Sister Helen Prejean, and Richard Dieter, the founding director of the Death Penalty Information Center.  Their memories and analyses illuminated a four-decades-long process that moved American public opinion from strong support of the death penalty to its waning popularity today.

• Impact: In addition to the 114-page report, “Shifting the Narrative: Six Case Studies” published in  2021, we developed five podcasts based on the studies in which the voices of people directly impacted by the issue were paramount.