The Oakland Education Week in Review: 7/30-8/4

This week–a look at the latest data on college attendance from Oakland graduates, 20 new OUSD principals, an interview with local shero Lakisha Young, time to reform Prop 13, Mack’s new principal, school lunch program cuts and effects on our kids, a look at the Curry’s foundation, all that and more please read, share, and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

Oakland:

  • Are Oakland High School Graduates Going to College? Here’s the Latest and Greatest Data.
    • Up until recently this was not an easy question to answer for a city in California (several other states make this data publicly available). The data has been available to individual schools and districts who seek it out, but the state has not prioritized releasing college-going data. Fortunately, for the the first time, California has publicly released college-going data. This is a great first step toward a statewide data system that can track student outcomes from pre-k through college.
  • 16th Annual Oakland Black College Expo
    • Join us for our 16th Annual Oakland Black College Expo Saturday February 8, 2020 at Oakland Marriott City Center.  High School Seniors and Juniors and College Transfer Students meet one on one with top HBCUs and a variety of other colleges and universities and get answers right on the spot.Get Educational Resources…  EVERYONE is Welcome…it’s for Students of ALL Ages
  • Oakland Early Learning Symposium 
    • Featuring Judy Jablon, co-author of “Powerful Interactions.” Who should attend? Early Childhood Professionals, Family Caregivers, Leaders who work with children birth to 5 years old.
  • Educator Spotlight: Lakisha Young, Oakland Reach
    • Lakisha Young is no stranger to education reform. A former Teach For America corps member and founding member of a KIPP Charter School, Young knows the power parents can wield when they demand educational options for their children. The daughter of a single mother who enrolled her in a traditional public school, a Catholic school, and later a private high school, Young expected to have the same power to make choices for her children when she became a mother.
  • Eat. Learn. Play: A Closer Look at the New Foundation of an NBA Power Couple
    • Last month, the Golden State Warriors were dethroned by Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals, setting up the most exciting summer offseason this hoops fan can recall in a while. Among other moves, superstar Kevin Durant left the Warriors and joined the Brooklyn Nets. And the Warriors themselves, who won three championships this decade at Oracle Arena in Oakland, will begin playing at Chase Center in San Francisco starting this Fall.
  • OUSD Set to Start 2019-20 School Year with Excited Site Leadership, Including New Principals at 20 Different Schools
    • The first day of the 2019-20 school year is Monday, August 12. Five days earlier, on Wednesday, August 7, teachers return to their campuses to get their classrooms ready to welcome all students. But this week is when school leaders came back to work at the Leadership Institute (pictured above), a gathering of hundreds of principals, assistant principals and District leaders where everyone is focused on ensuring schools are prepared for the new school year. Among the principals are new leaders from 20 different elementary, middle and high schools.
  • Tired of Oakland schools not being funded fairly? Us too. Take action today.
    • Proposition 13 reform is a 2020 ballot initiative that would close a corporate property-tax loophole and would bring in $45-50 million annually for Oakland public education. Current law allows a small number of large commercial property owners to avoid paying over $11 billion every year in property taxes. The 2020 ballot initiative reform would restore that $11 billion to fund our schools and local community services without raising taxes on homeowners, renters, and small businesses. It’s absolutely unacceptable and insufficient that California spends about half of what states like New York and Connecticut spends per student in our schools.
  • Letter: Is Oakland rushing to close schools without public input?
    • Oakland Unified has proposed to close Kaiser Elementary, one of the most diverse elementary schools in the district.
  • Jeffrey Taylor Named Principal of McClymonds High School
    • Jeffrey Taylor, a longtime educator and community work­er, has been named the new principal of McClymonds High School in West Oakland. The public was invited to meet him on July 22 ahead of the opening of the school year on Aug. 12.
  • Recent increase makes Oakland No. 1 in state
    • San Francisco is known for its swelling homeless population, but Oakland has surpassed its neighbor across the bay, and other large cities in California, in a key measure: the concentration of homelessness compared with the number of people living there.

California:

Other Stories:

  • Last I Checked, Compliance Isn’t a Learning Standard
    • When I was in the classroom, how many practices had I utilized out of habit without evaluating their effectiveness? The answer was simple- too many.  I required my students to keep reading logs even though the logs did not provide insight into my students’ reading development or interests. I gave all students summative vocabulary tests every ten days regardless of their readiness. I assigned final products with mandatory components without student input. This reflection led me to make the larger realization that many of the tasks I required students to complete were exercises in compliance rather than learning.
  • What We Can Learn from Schools that Educate Military Children
    • A unique program in Virginia Beach public schools includes 28 Military Family Life Counselors, who work closely with schools’ staff and families to support students. One mother we spoke with, talked about the fears her five-year-old daughter had while her father was deployed.
  • Ronald Reagan’s Long-Hidden Racist Conversation With Richard Nixon
    • The day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States. 
  • 500,000 Children Could Lose Free School Meals Under Trump Administration Proposal
    • More than 500,000 children would lose automatic eligibility for free school meals under a rule proposed last week by the Agriculture Department intended to tighten access to food stamps.

Resources:

  • 12 Ways Teachers Can Build Resilience So They Can Make Systemic Change
    • When Elena Aguilar started her teaching career in Oakland public schools 25 years ago, she was sure there was no better job than teaching. She loved her work, but she couldn’t help noticing how many teachers left her Oakland school each year. And she started taking note of how disruptive that cycle is to the school community and to the school’s ability to implement new programs.
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