If you haven’t seen Informing Equity: Student Need, Spending and Resource Use in Oakland’s Public Schools, you should. It is a critical first step in understanding what is happening in the difference public education sectors in Oakland and across the range of schools. I will excerpt the reports own big takeaways, but there are two critical…
Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
A Charter School “Moratorium” in Oakland Would Be Wrong, Illegal and Stupid
Rather than asking why so many families attend charters or even more pay for private school in Oakland, there is a misguided effort at a charter moratorium. This is not only illegal, it’s counterproductive—which makes it stupid. Case in point: Unnamed Charter School, a school soundly denied by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), was…
We Got Our Homegrown Superintendent in Oakland. Now What?
The community spoke. We wanted a homegrown leader, who understood OUSD and could hit the ground running. And now we got one in the appointment of Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell for superintendent. Whether we actually give her a chance is another question. But before the mud flies, let’s pop a cork. We need a leader and…
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…
2 Things You Need to Know about the “Charter Movement”
Everything you hear about charter schools is true. And everything you hear about charter schools is false. That’s what 20 plus years working with them has taught me. They send high numbers of low income kids to college, they pick and choose students, they are safer. They disproportionately suspend certain kids, they save taxpayers money,…