The Oakland Education Week in Review: 12/9-12/15

Last week- the new literacy campaign in Oakland, more funk from the OUSD board, OUSD budget updates and cuts, lots on housing and unhousing, how should parent judge schools test scores, Mack’s football team, lots on literacy, we should eliminate school districts, and much more please read share and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

Oakland:

  • Questions and Answers for Families on Reading; The NAACP, The Oakland REACH and Oakland’s New Literacy For All Campaign
    • How well can your child read?  Not what are their grades, but really, how well can they read?  Are they on grade level? That was a question The Oakland REACH and Oakland NAACP started asking with families over the last year, and as the answers emerged, a new campaign was born, the Oakland Literacy For All.  Last night was the first of several coalition trainings for families and it was powerful.
  • Who Betrayed the Opportunity Ticket; How Hills Parents Won and Flatlands Parents are Losing
    • Black parents in Oakland do not have access to quality schools.  1% attended a school above the state average and making progress, 2/3rds attend a school below average and going backwards.  We are locked into those schools by enrollment rules, segregated housing and the legacy of discrimination. So, it seemed a momentous victory when the OUSD voted unanimously to change its enrollment rules and grant an “opportunity ticket” (OT) to Oakland’s most underserved families—those at closing schools—which would allow them to go to any school in the district.   Black and Brown families, while not getting the fabled “great neighborhood school” at least had access to the schools of their choice. But this was not a victory for equity, at least not yet.
  • First Interim Budget Update from OUSD
    • Dear OUSD Staff and Community,On Dec. 11th, OUSD staff will present the first interim budget report to the Board and the public. We’d like to share some important information before that presentation as well as next steps in our budget process.
  • Oakland fee hasn’t led to promised housing
    • In April 2016, the Oakland City Council passed an ordinance that would impose impact fees on developers building market-rate housing projects in Oakland. Fees were meant to make up for the lack of affordable housing units being built. The city makes grants to affordable housing developers through an application process. Those developers then use those funds to qualify for state funding.
  • For a first-generation Yemeni American, giving back is essential
    • When Thafir Elzofri teaches fourth grade at Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond, he rarely stands still. There are 31 kids in his class, each with different strengths and needs, and Elzofri wants to make sure they understand his lessons. So he is light on his feet as he travels from desk to desk checking on his students’ work, offering a suggestion here, a correction there, and encouragement whenever possible.
  • Measuring School Quality; the Case for Looking at Student Growth and Proficiency
    • Despite the importance of growth, California is one of only two states in the country that does not consider growth when assessing school quality. While researchers push California to consider using growth, districts and organizations participating in the CORE Data Collaborative already have access this valuable data. Moreover, Oakland community members can now view growth data for Oakland’s schools.
  • Raw Video: OUSD President Served Notice Of Intent To Recall From At Meeting
    • The Oakland Unified School District Board President was publicly served with a notice of intent to recall her from her position at a community meeting Tuesday night, according to an Oakland teacher.
  • OUSD’s Feeder Patterns 
    • Use these dashboards to identify which schools our grade 5 and 8 students go to for middle and high school? And, which elementary and middle schools our grade 6 and 9 students came from?
  • Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 1 – B
    • I hope to show Then and Now images of most of the schools, along with a bit of history of each school I show. Some of the photos are in the form of drawings, postcards, or from the pages in history books. 
  • How a small school like McClymonds became a football giant
    • How did McClymonds, the smallest school in the six-team Oakland Athletic League, which is made up of all Oakland Unified School District institutions, become one of the Bay Area’s foremost football powers? Mack, with about 370 students, has fewer than half as many students as the next smallest OAL school
  • McClymonds High School Football Team Leaves on Thursday for Southern California to Chase Fourth Straight State Championship
    • On Thursday afternoon, December 12, the players and coaches of the McClymonds High School football team will board a bus heading for Southern California where they will play in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 2-A Championship. The team is going for their fourth straight state championship after a big win on Saturday night, December 7. “We’ve got a lot of heart, we came out hard with our heart, played hard,” said sophomore quarterback, Dreyan Paul. “It’s our defense, it’s our discipline, integrity, it’s the hard work we put in at practice.”
  • Oakland Unified School District Considers $15M in Cuts
    • The Oakland Unified School District is considering slashing millions of dollars from its budget, sparking outrage from some parents who are now calling for major changes in district leadership.
  • What Happens When A School District Reduces Meat And Dairy Consumption?
    • The Oakland Unified School District has concluded a two-year experiment and discovered savings, both environmental and financial. The closest thing we’ve got to a silver bullet solution for climate change is the reduction of meat and dairy in our diets. At no extra cost, it’s possible to shrink one’s carbon footprint by a significant amount, simply by choosing to eat more plant-based foods. And yet, while many cities and municipalities lead the way with innovative plans for climate change mitigation, shifting institutional diets to be more vegetable-centric is rarely discussed.
  • Oakland School Board moves meeting following another round of parents protesting budget cuts
    • It was another contentious school board meeting in Oakland Tuesday night. But unlike the Oct. 23 meeting, when police were called to hold back protesters, tonight the protest came in the form of Christmas carol parodies.
  • The Predator, The Snake, and The Thief; Why I Couldn’t Wait to Get Away from Paradise
    • Snakes in the jungle, predator in the streets, thief in my home. All were gathered under one roof and called me nephew. Guatemala is a wonderful place for a third world country: drinking age is never enforced; white folks are treated as walking banks, and reggaeton is the soundtrack to the lustful poverty. The innocent boy visiting the jungle, the home of his father. If only the father was more of a wordsmith and could weave the wild acts committed in the depths of night to something not so shocking. Father told him one day, and quite by accident, he morphed him.
  • District Leaders Say Schools May Face $15-21 Million in Budget Cuts Next Year
    • The Oakland Unified School District (OIUSD) has announced it may cut $15.5 million from its budget for the next school year, signifying there is no end in sight to proposed austerity measures including school closures that state officials have promised would lead eventually to a better day for Oakland students.
  • Black Panther volunteer still serving hungry kids breakfast, 50 years later
    • Katherine Campbell is still feeding hungry children, 50 years and counting. Half a century ago, Campbell was one of the chefs who scrambled the eggs and buttered the toast every morning for the Black Panther Party’s free breakfast program in San Francisco.

California:

  • California’s disgraceful educational test scores demand action: Gloria Romero
    • California, particularly, continues to flail:  eighth-grade scores fell in both reading and math. California’s low-income fourth-graders rank 48th nationally. The gap between white and black students increased in fourth- and eighth-grade math. Latino eighth-graders’ math scores rank 44th in the country.  California was statistically behind 28 states this year in eighth-grade reading. In fourth-grade math, California was statistically behind 37 states; in eighth-grade math, it was statistically behind 35 states.
  • California School Boards Association abandons plan to put $15 billion tax on 2020 ballot
    • The California School Boards Association announced Wednesday that it and its partners will end their effort to put a $15 billion tax initiative benefiting K-12 and community colleges before voters next November. Stating it wanted to avoid the prospect of competing tax measures for education on the same ballot, the association indicated it would seek a tax in 2022 instead.
  • If the University of California drops the SAT, what would take its place?
    • From within and without, the University of California is under pressure to stop requiring the high stakes test for admissions. Here’s what could happen next.
  • Only one-third of rural California households have home internet access
    • Only a third of rural California households have internet access, compared to 78% of urban households, limiting the number of students who can finish online homework assignments, according to an EdSource analysis analysis of California Public Utilities Commission data.
    • While low-income families are the most likely to lack internet access because the additional payment is too much, there’s also a lack of service providers and options.
    • The lack of internet access feeds both the homework gap and an achievement gap between rural districts and their wealthier counterparts, though California has invested millions to improve internet access both in schools and communities.
  • San Ysidro School District Kicked Out a Homeless Student Over a Paperwork Problem
    • San Ysidro School District, which educates the region’s largest share of homeless students, now requires some families to submit paperwork every 30 days confirming they’re homeless. When a sixth grade student failed to comply, the district unenrolled her.
  • Does California need more funds for child care, pre-school, higher ed? These education groups say yes
    • A coalition of education organizations and school officials on Tuesday called on Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders to place one tax measure on the November 2020 ballot “solely focused on education: quality child care, pre-school, K-12 and higher education.”
  • ‘I felt humiliated’: Why California schools need ethnic studies classes
    • Sabah Elias, 17, was staying after school for tutoring last week when she said someone in a mask followed her to the bathroom, verbally abused her for being Muslim, and threw a bucket of water at her. She called her parents, who told her to tell the school. The school called the police.
  • Search and compare data from the California School Dashboard, 2019
    • On Dec. 12, 2019, the California Department of Education updated the official California School Dashboard with the latest data for schools and districts. The dashboard shows progress, or lack of it, on multiple measures. This database shows measures of achievement on six measures, in color codes selected by the state. 
  • Some ratings rise in 3rd year of California School Dashboard
    • Significantly fewer school districts will require county help this year for poor performance on the state’s school accountability tool, the California School Dashboard, reflecting what State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond called “steady — albeit slow — progress in important areas” such as high school graduation rates and, by one measure, test scores.

Other Stories:

  • Will the Science of Reading Catch On in Teacher Prep?
    • Mary Sacchetti spent six years and tens of thousands of dollars preparing to become a special education teacher and then a reading specialist. But even after she earned her master’s degree from a highly ranked university, she still felt like she didn’t have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach all students how to read. It wasn’t until her Philadelphia charter school paid for Sacchetti to earn certification through an explicit, systematic phonics program that she finally understood the evidence-based strategies for teaching early reading.
  • Prominent Literacy Expert Denies Dyslexia Exists; Says to ‘Shoot’ Whoever Wrote Law on It
    • A group of teachers and literacy advocates are pushing back after one of the country’s most prominent experts on early literacy made inflammatory claims about dyslexia at a Tennessee literacy conference this week.
  • No More School Districts!
    • At the root of educational inequality: the rich and poor districts that keep education segregated. Here are the three reforms we need.
  • Tennessee Sheriff’s Deputy Indicted on 44 Charges, Including Rape and Stalking
    • Daniel Wilkey, who was charged on Tuesday with rape, extortion, stalking and assault, has previously been accused in lawsuits of false imprisonment, child molestation and forced baptism.
  • PHOTOS: Where The Kids Across Town Grow Up With Very Different Schools
    • On one side of the line — fresh paint and computer labs. Across that line? Old textbooks, broken chairs and, above all, many more students of color. Decades after Brown v. Board supposedly ended segregated schooling, these boundaries show a country where education remains deeply divided and unequal.
  • Let’s call the opposition to Urban Dove what it is: racism | Opinion
    • As we read the Brooklyn Eagle’s article on the community opposition to the new proposed location for Urban Dove Charter School, we were horrified. The behavior reported is jaw-droppingly awful. The headline, “New Midwood charter school sparks racial and religious tensions,” couldn’t quite encapsulate the horrifying things adults were saying about children. It is hard to describe the community opposition as anything other than racism at its ugliest.

Resources:

  • Choosing the Best Oakland Public School For Your Child– What Families NEED to Do NOW
    • Though it may still feel relatively early in the school year, we’re officially in the thick of the Oakland public school application season for next school year. We at Oakland Enrolls aim to empower Oakland families to make informed choices about their public school options and make the process of selecting and enrolling in a public school easy, efficient, and equitable.
  • 28 More Black Picture Books That Aren’t About Boycotts, Buses, or Basketball
    • When I made the first of these lists back in 2016 I had no idea the places it would go: Libraries, schools and families all over the world continue to share it even now, and I am humbled by its reception. I’ve long threatened to do a sequel to that list, so here it is. Same old librarian, all new tricks. Same rules apply:
  • New Year, New Classroom Materials
    • We are partnering with GO Public Schools Oakland to help teachers and students ring in the new year with new classroom materials by funding up to $15,000 of DonorsChoose.org projects on January 2nd!
  • Public Elementary Schools that Oakland Families Should Consider Based on the Latest 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 recently, and I wanted to highlight some of the schools making progress with Oakland children, and encourage families to visit.  Every child is different, and I will break it down into subgroups (schools showing progress with Black, Brown and low income students) in the next few weeks and you can also take a look at the schoolfinder tool to find local schools.
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