A guest post by Oakland teacher Marquise Evans, aka “Quis,” on the challenges of getting the technical teaching credential and how little it tends to mean for students “Quis, does a credential make one a qualified educator for scholars of melanin descent?” *Then the background choir beautifully sings… “H********* NAWWWW!” Absolutely, Not! I ask myself this…
State of Black Education
Celebrating The Critical Importance of Black Educators and Getting More of Them in Oakland
One relatively simple and costless reform could decrease Black dropout rates by roughly a third, increase all Black students’ expectations around going to college, increase significantly the percentage of Black students in gifted classes, while also increase student engagement for youth of all races. We just need to hire, retain and develop more Black teachers. …
How Aurum Prep Hired the “Best Person” for the Job and Ended up with a 75% Black Male Teaching Staff
A Guest post from Families in Action, please follow their blog for more great content. As he moves around his 7th grade math classroom, Aurum Preparatory Academy (“Aurum Prep”) teacher, Salif Doubare, is crackling with energy. He’s tall, thin, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a big smile, as he walks around a large table in the…
The End of Black Oakland? The Latest Research on Housing and Displacement and Why it Matters
The latest study on gentrification and displacement from Berkeley, confirmed what many of us feel daily. Oakland has changed and with housing prices skyrocketing, it is increasingly a place where Black folks are either being pushed or locked out of. This research further confirms the need for us to act, and not accept this fate…
What Should OUSD do with the Vacant Piedmont CDC Building
There is no broke landowner in Oakland sitting on as much vacant property as OUSD. They are one of the City’s largest landowners, but cant pay the bills. The Piedmont CDC building has sat vacant and cost the district roughly $250,000 in upkeep, its market rental value is roughly $230,000. So we lost $2,300,000 in…