Too Many Schools but not Enough Good Ones, Santa Fe CAN’s Challenge to the Oakland Narrative

What happens when a district has too many schools, and a growing grassroots community wants start a new one.  We are about to find out as the Santa Fe community, after a robust outreach process, is going to push on the District to open a new school, when many feel that schools should be closing.…


Redefining the School Bus to Redefine the School; Bringing Mobile Classrooms to Opportunity Youth

What do you do if you have students who can’t safely get to school?  If you are Steve Good and 5 Keys Charter School you bring the school to the students, with a mobile classroom inside a renovated bus.  It’s a thoughtful and much needed innovation and should have us thinking hard, not just about…


Student Voices: A Step Closer to Achieving My Goal and Finding My Motivation

By Mario Castellanos My name is Mario Castellanos and I am an 11th grader at Lighthouse Community Charter. I like to write down whatever pops into my head. In my free time I like to sit down and watch Netflix, and I am curious about many things like archeology and historical events. I’m interested in…


2 Big Takeaways in the Latest Charter and District Comparisons in Oakland

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…


Celebrating Beginnings and Endings: SEEDS of Literacy Success at Urban Montessori Charter School!

By Kristin Burke Kristin Burke is a TK/K Lead Montessori Teacher at Urban Montessori Charter School in Oakland, California. I look up at the clock. It is Friday afternoon at 2:40 pm at  Urban Montessori Charter School. As I stand and observe small bodies moving with voices exploding in chatter, the tiredness in my body reminds me…