What Happened in Oakland Education this Week- December 15th

Compiling all the coverage of Oakland education and beyond– this week– lots of coverage of the OUSD budget crisis and cuts, Steph shows up for kids, good coding work for youth, an inspirational charter school story, reviews of the latest test scores and lists of schools that Black and Latinx families should consider, ways to fix the funding formula, that and much more, please read and share, and don’t forget open enrollment for next school year is now, so check out the enrollment resources and the enrollment fair in West Oakland this week.

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Oakland

Teaching kids to code: Oakland students take on “Hour of Code” challenge

Oakland Schools Superintendent Proposes Reducing Cuts from $15 million to $9 million

From trafficking victim to college dean’s list: Woman’s life transformed by charter school

Steph Curry surprises an Oakland high school’s basketball team with new gear

Elementary Schools that Parents of Latino/a students Should Consider Based on the Latest Test Scores

Middle Schools that Parents of Latino/a Students Should Consider Based on the Latest Test Scores

Parent- Teacher Partnership: Helping Your Student Finish the Semester Strong

One fair down, one to go- This Saturday

12 Reasons why Oakland Unified School District must slash $9M from budget mid-year

High Schools that Parents of Latino/a Students Should Consider Based on the Latest Graduation Rates

The Town Kitchen offers job skills, second chances, to the formerly incarcerated

Oakland School Face $9 Million in Budget Cuts

Brothers Code Come Back to Oakland

Good Interview with Trustee Childress from ACOE

Let Girls Learn

California

Angry Parents Sue California Because Their Children Can’t Read

It’s well past time to fix the funding Formula

Money alone can’t fix California’s underperforming schools

California isn’t giving parents what they need to evaluate schools, says experts who reviewed state’s ESSA plan

California must set ambitious goals to combat chronic absenteeism

Best of the Rest

Are Schools Seeking Black Overseers to Control Black Students? – Philly’s 7th Ward

Bariers to Families Choosing Public Schools – And Using “Equity Enablers” to help Them Do Better

Ways you can Help

Help CE Mykytyn get more signatures – 405 are still needed!

Oakland 

Teaching kids to code: Oakland students take on “Hour of Code” challenge – This week students around the country and around the world were challenged to up their computer programming game as part of “Computer Science Education Week.” At Hillcrest School in Oakland, students grades K-8 took part in the global event which was centered around a special “Hour of Code” campaign.

Oakland Schools Superintendent Proposes Reducing Cuts from $15 million to $9 million – Oakland public schools Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said at last night’s school board meeting that the district needs to cut $9 million from its current fiscal year budget. 

From trafficking victim to college dean’s list: Woman’s life transformed by charter school – Civicorps helps youth who dropped out of high school make a fresh start. More than 1,500 young people have gotten their diplomas through the program and gone on to college or found steady work using the skills they learned through the program.

Steph Curry surprises an Oakland high school’s basketball team with new gear – An Oakland high school basketball team got the surprise of a lifetime when a Golden State Warriors superstar showed up to practice. The McClymonds High School varsity basketball team was practicing over the weekend when Steph Curry walked in.

Elementary Schools that Parents of Latino/a students Should Consider Based on the Latest Test Scores – Where you send your child to school is one of the most important decisions you can make. The new school quality data was released by the state this week, and I wanted to highlight some of the schools making progress with black children, and encouraging families to visit and to apply for next year, so please visit schools and make the best choices you can (which is about more than test scores). Great work from Madison Park, Aspire Monarch, Ascend, Greenleaf, American Indian, and others in showing real gains, please read and share with other families looking for elementary schools

Middle Schools that Parents of Latino/a Students Should Consider Based on the Latest Test Scores – The data is out, and here are the public middle schools making the most gains for Latino/a students, its open enrollment time now, and families need to be choosing the best available schools, please take a look and share with families looking for schools for next year.

Parent- Teacher Partnership: Helping Your Student Finish the Semester Strong – A guest post from our sisters at La Comadre by Danilea Felix, with the holidays upon us, many schools across the Bay Area are getting ready to finish the semester. This means teachers are busy planning final exams and projects, and families are preparing to enjoy the holidays together.

One fair down, one to go- This Saturday – The East Oakland enrollment fair was last weekend, this Saturday is the West Oakland enrollment and community resource fair, now is the time to apply to schools for next Fall, so get the most information you can and make your choice

12 Reasons why Oakland Unified School District must slash $9M from budget mid-year – The Oakland Unified School District board is poised on Wednesday night to slash $9.1 million from its budget in the middle of the year to remain “fiscally solvent,” upon discovering that there were millions of dollars spent, but had not been budgeted. 

High Schools that Parents of Latino/a Students Should Consider Based on the Latest Graduation Rates  I dig into the latest data from the state and pull out Oakland high schools that are showing high graduation rates with Latino/a students, and also those showing gains, please take a look and share with families who are looking for schools for next year– now is the time to visit and apply. “There are several schools showing outstanding graduation rates, with Oakland Charter High, Leadership Public Schools’ Oakland R and D campus, MetWest, Envision, and Unity having graduation rates of 90% or higher. And Lighthouse, Arise and MetWest have all made large gains alongside strong overall graduation rates.”

The Town Kitchen offers job skills, second chances, to the formerly incarcerated – The Town Kitchen is a restaurant that employs and trains low-income Bay Area youth, ages 16 to 24, in food preparation and entrepreneurial skills. UC Berkeley graduate Sabrina Mutukisna and former Google chef Jefferson Sevilla founded the restaurant in 2015.

Oakland School Face $9 Million in Budget Cuts – Oakland’s school board is set to vote Wednesday on a proposal to cut $9 million from the district budget. Oakland’s new school superintendent says the mid-year cuts are a result of financial mismanagement and overspending.

Brothers Code Come Back to Oakland – Students sit in on a session at last year’s Brothers Code event. This year’s fourth annual Brothers Code event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Merritt College.

Good Interview with Trustee Childress from ACOE – Amber Childress is a marketing techie, public speaker, and community advocate. She was raised in Oakland and has spent the majority of her life in the East Bay, attending Oakland public schools and Mills College.

Let Girls Learn – Gender norms play a huge role in society. People grow up being taught that there are limits to what they can do based on something they had no control over, their gender. Girls are believed to have interests in things like shopping, and makeup, while boys are believed to like cars, and video games. 

California 

Angry Parents Sue California Because Their Children Can’t Read – California has some of the lowest performing public schools in the country- based on the state’s own testing standards in core subjects like reading and math.

It’s well past time to fix the funding Formula – In 2013,  Gov. Jerry Brown shepherded to passage what he called the “truly revolutionary” Local Control Funding Formula, one of the biggest changes in California public education in decades. It rewrote school funding formulas to ensure that more money went to districts with high-needs students — English-learners, foster children and kids from impoverished families.

Money alone can’t fix California’s underperforming schools – Raising taxes and throwing money at California’s K-12 public schools won’t solve low test performance, writes conservative columnist Andrea Seastrand. Whenever progressives talk about public education, the conversation inevitably goes to the need for more money because our schools are chronically underfunded. And of course we can just tax the rich to pay for it.

California isn’t giving parents what they need to evaluate schools, says experts who reviewed state’s ESSA plan – California ranked at the bottom, along with Idaho and Texas, receiving the lowest scores in two categories out of nine in a review of 34 state plans on complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

California must set ambitious goals to combat chronic absenteeism – California still has work to do to make new indicator of school attendance more meaningful. Last week, California’s parents and educators received a new trove of information about what’s going on in the state’s public schools. For the first time, state officials released data on the level of student absenteeism in every school. 

Best of the Rest 

Are Schools Seeking Black Overseers to Control Black Students? – Philly’s 7th Ward – A very successful educator sent me a test not long ago that said that all of the deans in a particular school are Black males. It raised an interesting and perennial question. “Why are so many deans Black men? Is managing school culture seen as a “Black male” thing to do?”

Bariers to Families Choosing Public Schools – And Using “Equity Enablers” to help Them Do Better – To sustain and expand public school choice, more cities must adopt best practices. The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has released a fascinating report entitled Stepping Up. It’s chock-full of provocative information on how 18 cities* are implementing and delivering on the promise of public school choice.

How you can help 

Help CE Mykytyn get more signatures – 405 are still needed! – U.S. House of Representatives: Tell Congress to stop blocking school integration #STRIK301and302

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