Welcome to the 2023-24 Energy Convertors Report on Oakland public schools. We’re excited to share with you the findings from this year’s report. Our student researchers examined learning in the classroom and how students are impacted through two key areas of focus: 1. Learning and Proficiency; 2. Classroom Management and School Culture.
Click here to download.
Among the key findings of our report:
- There is a significant disconnect in students’ comprehension of grades and proficiency. Three out of four students surveyed believe they are reading on grade level and three in five believe they are reaching the grade-level standard in math. However, just 2 in 10 Black and Latino students are reading or doing math at grade level. While many students think they are learning a subject due to their high grades, the state testing data shares a different story.
- Teachers are not informing students of grade-level standards. Three out of four Oakland students surveyed said a teacher has never discussed whether they are attaining grade-level standards in reading or math.
- Students are not aware they are chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism (missing more than 10 percent of the school year) is a real issue and has been on the rise since COVID, with only 42 percent of OUSD students having satisfactory attendance. Yet double that number — 80 percent — of students in our survey believe they have satisfactory attendance.
- Many students don’t trust their teachers to manage their classrooms and don’t trust administrators to fix the issue. One out of three students do not trust their teacher to manage misbehavior in the classroom, and one-third do not trust an administrator to resolve a conflict at school.
- Students want greater consequences for student misbehavior. More than half of the students surveyed said they did not feel the consequences for misbehavior were adequate to actually change that behavior.
Click here to download the report or scan the QR code, and engage with it. You will hear from 354 Oakland students who completed the Energy Convertors survey, read analysis from our student researchers and follow the data they compiled. Our hope is that this report will serve as a call to action for our collective community — parents, educators, students — to improve academic outcomes for Oakland public school students.