The Oakland Education Week in Review: 11/19-11/25

All the Oakland ed news that is fit to link– this week–Graduation rates are up, the elections are over and we have new OUSD trustee and State Superintendent, a look at OUSD’s school finances, a lot of wasted money on elections, integration in schools hasn’t matched neighborhoods, girls are struggling in middle school horribly based on the latest data, a look at the fight for Mexican-American studies, an essay looking at thanksgiving for those who have someone on the inside– all that and more– please read, share, and get involved

Oakland:

• OUSD Celebrates Success: District Continues Upward Trajectory with Improving High School Graduation Rates
• As new school board members go, Oakland Unified’s Gary Yee brings unusual depth of experience
• California Schools Have More Money than Ever, So Why Is OUSD Broke

California:

• Charter school backers spent millions on statewide races in 2018. They still lost twice.

Best of the Rest:

• In most U.S. cities, neighborhoods have grown more integrated. Their schools haven’t.
• What the Hell Is Happening to Girls in Middle School? Just Look at the Latest Social-Emotional Data
• 50 years in, why the fight for Mexican-American studies in schools is still in its early stages
• Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving at Home

Oakland:

• OUSD Celebrates Success: District Continues Upward Trajectory with Improving High School Graduation Rates
  • Oakland Unified School District is celebrating the just-released news that the 2017-18 graduation rates show strong progress over the previous year’s, which had already shown dramatic improvement. Four OUSD high schools now show four-year cohort graduation rates of 91% or higher. Overall, the District’s four-year cohort graduation rate increased 2.8% percentage points to 73.5% from 2016-17’s rate of 70.7%.
• As new school board members go, Oakland Unified’s Gary Yee brings unusual depth of experience
  • As new school board members across California prepare to take the seats they won in the election earlier this month, Oakland Unified’s only newly elected board member Gary Yee knows there will be no honeymoon. In January, he will join a board whose first challenge is finding $30 million in spending cuts in next year’s budget to stem the district’s deficit spending. Failing to do that could result in the county or state intervening.
• California Schools Have More Money than Ever, So Why Is OUSD Broke
  • California’s economic growth and investment in education are at an all time high and the latest budget promises even more money…However, districts across the State are hurting, and very few are hurting more than OUSD, which is facing a series of painful cuts, both in the short term and long term, and a big issue is the pension crisis.

California:

• Charter school backers spent millions on statewide races in 2018. They still lost twice.
  • When former charter school executive Marshall Tuck called Assemblyman Tony Thurmond to concede over the weekend, it marked another defeat for charter-school advocates in California.

Best of the Rest:

• In most U.S. cities, neighborhoods have grown more integrated. Their schools haven’t.
  • The analysis finds that, between 1990 and 2015, 72 percent of U.S. cities saw their neighborhoods grow less racially segregated, by one measure. Sixty-two percent saw their schools grow more segregated over that same period.
• What the Hell Is Happening to Girls in Middle School? Just Look at the Latest Social-Emotional Data
  • There are certain graphs that hurt my head and my heart.  That tell us something is dreadfully wrong, and that we should do something.  The latest soul hurting statistic came from the state’s most robust data set—the CORE data, which looks not only at academics but also students self-reported well being and sense of competency. And something dreadful is happening to girls’ self confidence in middle school.
• 50 years in, why the fight for Mexican-American studies in schools is still in its early stages
  • Fifty years after televised civil rights hearings galvanized the Chicano movement, academics and activists agree that the push for Mexican-American studies still lacks basic resources.
• Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving at Home
  • Families crowd together in their best clothes, hugs sometimes (depending on the rules) are exchanged.  And those dinner table conversations are held across institutional seatings, with food coming out of vending machines and microwaves replacing ovens.    There are a lot of kids.