Schools are tough places for most African American girls in Oakland. While much attention and rightful praise has gone to the African American Male Achievement Initiative, a recent report by the Alliance for Girls, Valuing Girls’ Voices, Lived Experiences of Girls of Color in Oakland Unified School District, looked at data and asked young women…
A Parent’s View on Oakland Public School Funding Inequality
Great look at the disparities in funding for public charter schools and traditional district schools in Oakland. We all pay parcel tax money, but right now the roughly $500 per child that comes from measure G, doesn’t flow equally to public charter school students. Take a look at the piece here I Don’t Understand…
The Importance of “Fit” and the Costs of Student Mobility
One of the schools I volunteer with is a “maker” school. It is built around empowering students to create their experience and even the physical environment. This starts day 1 of school where they literally construct, using tools and timber, the stool they will sit on. For some families and kids this is fun and…
There Are Things We Can Do Right Now to Make Oakland Schools More Equitable
Oakland’s fractious public education sector may have found some common ground. New leadership in the OUSD enrollment office, openness to real changes at the top, and a public push for equity and integration in Oakland across the community have created a moment of opportunity. In my view the biggest doable change we can make in…
There is No “Free Market” in Public Education
Any time someone starts talking about the free market in K-12 education I immediately know that they don’t know what they are talking about. And as a hack economist myself, I know that public education is nothing like a free market—for good reason. Stick with me. There is no “free market” Economists like competitive markets…