ANNUAL REPORT 2008 1

OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT ANNUAL REPORT 2007- 08

At Oakland Unified, we are building a school district defined by three basic qualities: achievement, equity and accountability. These bedrock values provide the foundation from which we pursue our mission: ensuring that all students graduate as caring, competent and critical thinkers, prepared to engage with and contribute to society while succeeding in college and career.

It is an ambitious goal, to be sure, but our responsibility is too great to ask for anything less. We have been entrusted with the most precious gift – children – and charged with providing them the skills and the knowledge required to build a brighter future. We are measuring our progress in that regard by five standards. The results we expect for our children are that:

1. All students are reading proficient by the end of third grade 2. All students are algebra proficient by the end of ninth grade 3. All students graduate by the end of twelfth grade 4. All students take responsibility for themselves and the common good 5. All students possess the skills and resiliency necessary for success in the workplace

We will not achieve these goals without support and coordinated effort from all those with a stake in the school district, including students, parents, our government and business partners and the community at large. The challenges that face us are complex and there is no silver bullet to accelerate student achievement. There are, however, strategies that, when employed in a disciplined and determined way, can continue to lead us forward.

Over the past four years, OUSD has established itself as California’s most improved large, urban school district. This growth is a tribute to the hard work of our students and staff and the contributions of parents, caregivers and our community partners. These accomplishments do not, however, obscure the fact that we have a long road to travel before we achieve acceptable results for all students.

To reach that destination, we must be uncompromising in the pursuit of:

• Universally high standards of teaching and learning • High standards of service to all school sites • Increased stability as we reassume full governance

In these pages, you will learn more about the progress OUSD has made toward these goals, where we have fallen short of our objectives, and how we intend, in partnership with our community, to focus our efforts going forward. Our mandate is clear: to provide a quality education to every student, in every classroom, every day. The stakes are enormous and the challenge is formidable, but so is our will to create an exceptional public school system that is both worthy of and a credit to the City of Oakland.

Sincerely,

Roberta Mayor Noel Gallo Interim Superintendent President Oakland Unified School District Oakland Board of Education

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Acknowledgements

Many people contributed to the creation of this document, and any acknowledgment is bound to be incomplete. Nevertheless, we will endeavor to recognize those whose hard work made this document both possible and worthwhile.

First, as always, are the students, without whom there would be no need for an Annual Report and no future worth contemplating. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the teachers and principals whose guidance is critical in helping our children realize their potential and essential to any success the District experiences. An enormous debt is owed to all the OUSD staff who labor, frequently behind the scenes, to support the heroic work that takes place in the classrooms. And of course, we offer our appreciation to the greater Oakland community which sustains us, and for whom we strive to improve the Oakland Unified School District so that we may all grow stronger together.

We would also be remiss if we failed to recognize the Board of Education, a body whose counsel is integral to improving the education of all Oakland’s public school students. A warm thank you to:

Jody London David Kakishiba Jumoke Hodge Gary Yee Noel Gallo Director Director Director Vice President President District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5

Christopher Dobbins Alice Spearman Director Director District 6 District 7

We must also make brief mention of those who, through their service and assistance, helped to create this report. They are:

Yvonne Allara Gil Brenum Raquel Brewer Tina Chong Madeleine Clark Troy Flint Kari Gim Vernon Hal Rebecca Hopkins Le’jon Issacs Amy Malen Dr. Roberta Mayor Michael Moore Laura Moran Alicia Rozum Phoumy Savayong Jill Schiager Kevin Smith Brad Stam Eric Swihart Monica Vaughan Jason Willis

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Table of Contents

Our Vision...... 5

Our People ...... 13

Our Schools ...... 16

Measuring Results ...... 21

Financial Review ...... 31

College-Bound Students...... 38

Leadership in the Arts…...... 42

Health and Wellness…...... 45

Footnotes...... 47

Appendix...... 48

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Our Vision

The Oakland Unified School District exists to serve one basic, yet essential purpose: preparing our students for the academic, social and professional challenges that await them in life. Accomplishing this is impossible unless we articulate a clear vision of what constitutes a quality education and establish solid expectations for how we are to provide it.

The Oakland Board of Education, in concert with OUSD staff and the broader Oakland community, has developed a vision of the attributes and competencies that Oakland Public School students should ideally exhibit. Making the ideal a consistent reality is the charge of every single employee in the Oakland Unified School District.

Our Mission It is our mission to ensure that all students graduate as caring, competent, and critical thinkers, as well as fully-informed, engaged, and contributing citizens, prepared to succeed in college and career.

Our Values The bedrock values underpinning this effort are Achievement, Equity, and Accountability. These values are at once essential and inseparable. Continuous improvement in academic achievement is the primary metric by which we will evaluate our progress in educating Oakland’s children. This progress will not come in full measure, however, without an unflagging commitment to equity – defined here as the belief that every kind of child can succeed and is entitled to the tools, means and instruction that allow them to do so. This relentless emphasis on equity as a lever to lift achievement is only possible when there is consistent accountability at all levels of the organization, and in all positions.

Our Goals It is through the diligent application of these values that we work toward the day when:

1. All students are reading proficient by the end of third grade 2. All students are algebra proficient by the end of ninth grade 3. All students graduate by the end of twelfth grade 4. All students take responsibility for themselves and the common good 5. All students possess the skills and resiliency necessary for success in the workplace

Our Commitments The principal area of focus for OUSD as we move toward our organizational goals is high-quality instruction that results in student learning in every classroom.

To address this priority, the District will:

1. Have a principal at every school who is an effective and strategic instructional and organizational leader

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2. Increase retention of committed, caring and effective teachers at every school, especially in low- performing schools with high teacher turnover

3. Support every teacher with high-quality professional development, mentoring, collaboration, and observation with feedback

4. Create school program designs and organizational practices that enable teachers to personalize student learning

5. Provide schools both authority and guidance over their budgets, as well as curricular flexibility

6. Provide safe and supportive conditions that foster students’ physical, emotional, and social readiness to learn

7. Provide school facilities and infrastructure that enable the delivery of high-quality instruction

8. Continuously monitor performance quality and impact in every classroom, school and department

None of these objectives are easily accomplished, but they are all critical to OUSD’s educational mission. To ensure that the proper infrastructure is in place to realize these goals, the Board of Education has identified a set of eight discrete strategies for each objective.

Have a principal at every school who is an effective and strategic instructional and organizational leader

In order to ensure that the head of each school is a powerful, productive leader, OUSD is committed to a robust process for recruiting, selecting, and inducting new principals that includes partnerships with quality preparation programs and strengthened leadership development pathways for aspiring principals already in the Oakland school system.

Once installed in the principal’s office, school leaders will benefit from network-based principal development and school support. In OUSD, schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels are divided into networks. Each network is managed by a seasoned administrator who provides coaching and professional development, in addition to conducting school walkthroughs and rigorous principal evaluations. The network also offers a forum for principals to share concerns and work collaboratively to address problems, while providing an organizational structure for operational and administrative support.

Increase retention of committed, caring, and effective teachers at every school, especially in low- performing schools with high teacher turnover

In order to ensure a steady supply of talented, motivated, and well-trained teachers, OUSD will continue to cultivate its relationships with pipeline programs such as Teach for America, The New Teacher Project, and universities, both in California and across the country. Additionally, OUSD will work with the City of Oakland to spur the growth of Teach Tomorrow Oakland, a joint program focused on increasing the stability of OUSD’s teacher corps by targeting residents with roots in the East Bay as teachers in Oakland schools—with a particular focus on candidates whose ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are reflective of the student population.

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Teachers already in the classroom will benefit from enhanced classroom management support, while those at “red” or “orange” schools, or those schools targeted for special intervention, will receive additional instructional coaching and highest priority for central office services. Provision of those services, such as human resource support and benefits and payroll functions, will be strengthened and streamlined as part of an ongoing process to increase customer satisfaction.

Finally, the District will broach the subject of potential retention incentives with its various teacher unions to identify ways in which we can creatively and collaboratively make teaching in Oakland more attractive.

Support every teacher with high-quality professional development, mentoring, collaboration and observation with feedback

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are the cornerstone of OUSD’s professional development strategy, and the District is striving to ensure that PLCs are in place at every school site. PLCs have three objectives: ensuring that every student learns at high levels, nurturing a culture of collaboration and collective responsibility, and focusing on results and student achievement.

In order to achieve these objectives, PLCs in Oakland consistently ask the following three questions:

• “What do we want each student to learn?” • “How will we know when each student has learned it?” • “How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?”

PLCs are organized into collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals driven by a school-wide focus on individual student results, data-driven collaborative cycles of inquiry, data coaching, and peer observation and feedback. PLCs evaluate the impact of their efforts on the basis of results, rather than intentions.

OUSD professional development teams pursue and implement improvement objectives that are aligned to school and District goals, specifically:

• A school-wide focus on individual student results By closely monitoring and regularly assessing the results of individual students, OUSD is able to identify student struggles at a relatively early age and devise personalized interventions to help students move closer to proficiency.

• Data coaching and data-driven, collaborative cycles of inquiry OUSD data coaches use detailed analysis to determine the relative progress of individuals and subgroups, define strengths and weakness, and help create a culture where instructional decisions are influenced by informed, data-based assessment that identifies areas of focus to produce gains on achievement tests and narrow the achievement gap. In addition, this data can also provide a catalyst for illuminating and productive conversations about race, ethnicity, class, gender, socioeconomic and education status, as well as language differences that affect both teaching and learning.

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• Peer observation and feedback By allowing fellow instructors to observe a teacher in action and share insights and critiques, OUSD teachers gain valuable constructive feedback that they incorporate into their teaching practice to enhance instruction.

PLCs are complemented by innovative instructional initiatives such as the Si Swun math program, intensive algebra summer camps, and strategies aimed at boosting achievement in writing, English Language Development (ELD) and Academic Language Development (ALD). In addition, teachers benefit from Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) and intern-teacher mentoring, professional development centered on the core curriculum and comprehensive curriculum, and instruction guides to ensure alignment of instructional techniques with overall academic objectives.

Create school program designs and organizational practices that enable teachers to personalize student learning

The environment in which an instructor teaches and a student learns plays an integral part in the child’s academic achievement, which is why OUSD has continued to promote school designs and organizational practices that are geared toward personalized interaction with students. This multilayered approach blends several differentiated strategies with the common goal of cultivating an atmosphere conducive to learning.

Small schools and small learning communities at small schools help provide the preconditions for widespread academic achievement, including improved safety, increased family engagement, and higher student attendance. Family engagement is one of the most powerful levers we can use to raise student achievement. That’s why school sites and the District’s Family and Community Office (FCO) work to help parents and caregivers understand what their children need to do in order to excel in school and let them know how they can navigate the system to ensure the best results for their children. By increasing parental appreciation for the demands of contemporary education, modern grade level standards, and how the home life can complement classroom parenting, intensive community engagement paves the way for proactive parenting that works hand-in-hand with the schools to boost student achievement.

Our school restructuring and new school design process emphasize the roles of coaching support and community engagement in creating strong, nurturing, responsive learning environments. Student achievement, of course, can manifest itself in a number of different ways and does not always conform to traditional measures or conventional timelines. In recognition of this, OUSD has worked with its partners to develop multiple pathways to graduation that include career academies and work-based learning opportunities.

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It’s the belief of OUSD and the Board that the multiple pathway approach is one of the key ways in which we can fulfill our shared goal of universal college and career readiness. The multiple pathways approach consists of:

• A challenging academic component, which will prepare students for success in community college, universities, apprenticeships • A demanding technical component, to deliver concrete knowledge and application of skills through a cluster of four or more technical courses • A work-based learning component, providing students access to intensive internships, virtual apprenticeships, and school-based enterprises • Supplemental services that include reading and math intervention and counseling

Every pathway must be designed to provide the access, support and guidance that students need to learn at high levels, graduate, and achieve future goals. Equally important, all adults must hold high expectations for student performance, regardless of the course of personal advancement they have chosen.

Provide schools both authority and guidance over their budgets, as well as curricular flexibility

OUSD believes that spending decisions are best made by the “boots on the ground”—the site administrators who run our schools and childhood development centers and experience their challenges on a firsthand basis. This is why the District created Results Based Budgeting (RBB), a school budgeting system that empowers principals to make critical spending decisions, a privilege formerly accorded to central office administrators.

Under RBB, each principal receives a specific amount of money from the central office to support school priorities. The principal, working in conjunction with teachers, staff, and parents at the site, determines how this money will be allocated. As a result of this innovation, more than eight of every ten OUSD dollars are controlled by schools, giving them increased flexibility to spend money according to their needs and giving their communities increased transparency to monitor school funding.

Also serving the cause of transparency and accountability are School Site Councils, which are found at every OUSD school. Site councils are comprised of various members of the school community who serve as trustees, advising instructional leaders and approving expenditures.

In addition to giving schools greater authority over how their money is spent, OUSD is also providing increasing guidance and support to streamline the allocation process. By providing budget management tools as well as in- person support to principals during the budget management process, OUSD is helping to lessen the burden of budget development while maintaining autonomy at the school site level.

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Provide safe and supportive conditions that foster students’ physical, emotional, and social readiness to learn

An education policy that considers the whole child is the policy that best positions that student for success in school, success in career, and success in life. OUSD realizes that learning and personal growth are not restricted to the standard hours of the school day, and through its Complementary Learning department offers before and after school programs, summer learning programs, behavioral and physical health services and school-based health centers. Complementary Learning also oversees the District’s Comprehensive Wellness Policy and Wellness Councils which work to nurture nutritional, mental, and emotional wellness in OUSD students through healthier cafeteria foods, strong school health regulations and violence prevention programs. This focus is complemented by the emphasis on physical safety and security provided by OUSD Police and School Security Officers and reinforced by the Attend and Achieve initiative, which aims to keep kids in school and off the streets.

Provide school facilities and infrastructure that enable the delivery of high-quality instruction

Upgrading our facilities to a quality that matches the same high standards we expect from our children is a project of extreme importance to the Oakland Unified School District. In order to achieve this goal, we have undertaken a massive facilities modernization program that incorporates green building and increases the frequency of routine repair and maintenance operations. The effort to shore up the physical plant is accompanied by an equally ambitious campaign to enhance the District’s technology infrastructure through upgrades to the bandwidth capacity, Aeries and Integrated Fund Accounting System (IFAS) information systems, the Intranet and the Internet Content Management System (CMS).

Continuously monitor performance quality and impact in every classroom, school, and department

In order to monitor performance and drive improvement, OUSD believes there must be regular, data-based assessment to establish benchmarks, identify weaknesses to be addressed and highlight strengths on which we can build. In order to facilitate this process, the District has created a multi-tier approach combining objective data evaluation and intervention.

The foundation of this approach lies in a comprehensive assessment system comprised of District benchmark assessments as well as placement, diagnostic, formative and summative assessments. Each type of assessment provides a different snapshot of students’ learning and achievement, while all assessments, when used in conjunction, provide a holistic picture of what students know and are able to do. Specifically, the OUSD comprehensive assessment system is designed:

• To provide teachers, principals, and other stakeholders with timely and relevant information about students’ learning so that they may strengthen and enhance specific areas of instruction.

• To expose students to grade level standards and high levels of academic rigor and provide real-life test- taking experiences. In addition to providing teachers with information about student learning, these assessments provide students with information about their progress so that they feel prepared to succeed on the California Standards Test.

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• To provide District leadership with data to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of instructional programs and to inform differentiated resource allocation to schools.

Just as the progress of individual students is measured through regular assessments, so too is the progress of individual schools, which are regularly evaluated by OUSD. Like the city of Oakland itself, the Oakland Unified School District is tremendously diverse. This is both a result of the city’s multicultural fabric and the outgrowth of an effort to create a school system with a range of educational options and quality school options in neighborhoods throughout the city. With 108 traditional schools and 32 charter institutions, driving progress toward this goal of performance management requires a strategic plan, rigorous oversight, and regular assessment. With this in mind, OUSD established the School Portfolio Management Office to evaluate and manage its dynamic school portfolio based on three dimensions: quality, enrollment and capacity, and programmatic diversity.

The School Portfolio Management Offices uses the Tiered Accountability and Support System to measure school quality, rank schools based on performance, and determine the level of flexibility or support given to each school. In this system, blue schools and green schools are the highest scoring schools and afforded the greatest degree of autonomy over curriculum and instructional practices. Yellow and orange schools are those with middling performance and an intermediate degree of flexibility. The lowest performing schools are red schools, which are subject to increased monitoring, support, and intervention.

The Tiered Accountability and Support System is intended to strengthen responsibility for results and increase transparency around performance data and rankings for schools, families, and communities by providing a universal standard against which all schools are measured and which all parents can understand. The common benchmark established by the Tiered Accountability and Support System allows the District to identify struggling schools and diagnose underserved student needs, while preparing school specific remedies. Responsibility for implementing these measures, however, falls to the Network Executive Officers.

Another measure of our progress is found in opinion polls, such as the Use Your Voice Survey. Use Your Voice presents a unique opportunity for all members of the OUSD community to express opinions about the District. The survey is an annual public opinion poll conducted by the District on a range of issues critical to the city’s public schools. The Use Your Voice Survey is one of the largest efforts of its kind and a great chance for all stakeholders to speak out about OUSD, to highlight successes, pinpoint failures, and share ideas on how we can provide universal college and workplace readiness, quality public schools in every neighborhood, clean and safe learning environments, service excellence across the District, and equitable outcomes for all students. Many of the recommendations gathered from previous surveys have already been implemented in OUSD, and this year’s results will continue to help shape the future of the District.

Relentless Pursuit The eight points of emphasis described above create a cycle of student and organizational learning that lays the groundwork for continuous improvement throughout the District. Yet, it is only through strategic design, complemented by thoughtful implementation and supported by organizational discipline, that our ultimate objectives will be achieved. We are in the midst of a long and challenging journey toward a time when Oakland can legitimately claim universal college and workplace readiness, quality public schools in every neighborhood, clean and safe learning environments, service excellence across the District, and equitable outcomes for all students.

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These are ambitious goals and reaching them will require an unflinching commitment to rigorous standards and meticulous execution. Although our current performance results are not where we need them to be, our students are making progress. We are constantly examining and adjusting our educational practices to ensure that progress continues, and we will remain relentless in the pursuit of the day when OUSD students graduate as caring, competent, and critical thinkers, prepared to engage with and contribute to society while succeeding in college and career.

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Our People

Student Demographics During the 2007-08 school year, 38,826 students attended public schools in the Oakland Unified School District. Another 7,621 students attended District authorized charter schools in Oakland. OUSD boasts one of the most diverse student populations in California. The rich cultural and linguistic diversity of our community is one of our greatest assets as we strive to prepare all of our students for college and careers.

The table below shows the percentages of students of different races and ethnicities present in the District. The Asian descent category includes Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Japanese, Korean, and Asian Indian students, among other Asian nationalities.1

At OUSD, diversity is also reflected in the variety of students enrolled in special programs. In 2007-08 OUSD had 11,622 English Language Learners, 4,750 students enrolled in Special Education programs, 26,402 students enrolled in Compensatory Education classes, and 1,529 students enrolled in Alternative Education. Additionally, 4,101 of our students were Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) learners.2

Among OUSD’s students, over 44 languages are spoken at home. Other than English, the most widely spoken primarily languages are Spanish and Cantonese. The table below provides detailed information on the home languages spoken by our students.

Staff Demographics The majority of OUSD’s staff is teachers, a group that represents over 60 percent of our employees and is the heart of our educational efforts. Other employees with certifications include instructional services staff and site administrators. Classified staff is the second largest category of OUSD employees. They include clerical and technical employees at school sites, custodians, school security officers, and other personnel who help ensure that school and district operations run smoothly to maximize learning time for our students. The table on the next page provides a complete breakdown of the District’s employees.3

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This additional graph illustrates the degrees held by OUSD teachers, as compared to Alameda County and the state of California.

Achieving Service Excellence across OUSD OUSD’s schools and central office partner to provide service to the District’s ultimate customers: the students, families, and community. OUSD’s current service areas include Adult & Career Education, Research & Assessment, Operations Support Services, Technology Services, Instructional Services, Nutrition Services, Procurement and Distribution, Facilities, Special Education, Financial Services, Complementary Learning, the Family & Community Office, Human Resources, Attend and Achieve, Legal, Labor Management & Relations, and the Ombudsperson’s Office.

Achieving Service Excellence (ASE) is the District’s flagship program for creating a shared set of standards, practices, and language that will shape a customer service culture both in schools and in central office departments. ASE is a research-based program that teaches skills and practices that allow individual employees to intentionally and consistently provide excellent service to students, parents, and the community.

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Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, and Responsiveness, known by their RATER acronym, are the basis for service excellence practices at OUSD. As of December 2008, approximately 1,400 school and central office employees have participated in this training, including the Superintendent, the State Administrator, and other senior leaders.

Use Your Voice survey results showed that principals’ perceptions of the services provided by the District on the whole have improved. Those principals surveyed in the last two years indicated growth in the service teams’ successful embodiment of all of the RATER characteristics:

• Reliability: performing dependably and accurately • Assurance: inspiring trust and confidence through knowledge of services • Tangibles: creating a positive impression through appearance and equipment • Empathy: communicating caring and individualized attention • Responsiveness: helping customers promptly and quickly, and • Supporting Student Achievement.

Since 2005-06, service areas have seen up to a 36 percent increase in their RATER scores, evidence of improved customer service. All service area teams have been challenged to reach 80 percent on RATER evaluations by September 2009.

Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, the District began to invest in Home Run projects. A Home Run project is one that addresses the chronic pain points identified by principals and Network Officers that, if resolved, would significantly contribute to improving the focus in schools on teaching and learning. A Home Run project requires a cross-functional team effort to be successful. Examples of successful Home Run projects are increasing the Substitute Fill Rate at school sites and improving payroll accuracy.

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Our Schools

Oakland Unified School District is committed to offering at least two quality school options in every neighborhood. We have further refined a rigorous process of school portfolio management through which we continue to develop new schools that excel and close schools that fail to meet high performance standards.

Overview of schools operating during the 2007-08 academic year:

• 65 OUSD Elementary Schools • 20 OUSD Middle Schools • 24 OUSD High Schools • 32 Public Charter Schools

The Life of the Party Allendale Elementary Principal Steven Thomasberger loves a good party. So, when his students posted a remarkable 63-point increase on the API, he knew it was time to celebrate. The API score summarizes a school’s performance on the state’s standardized tests.

“We told the kids ‘Dress up as if it were a graduation, come with your parents and be honored, and be proud of your achievement,’” Thomasberger recalled. “Schools like Allendale don’t often hold a ritual like we did. We become accustomed to feelings of mediocrity and worse. So, when I first heard how well our students performed, I vowed that we would recognize it.”

In fact, Allendale left mediocrity behind some time ago, and in the process, established itself as one of OUSD’s most improved schools. Nestled below Oakland’s 580 freeway and between High St. and 35th Avenue, Allendale has spent the past few years getting more and more students to perform at or above grade level. That steady growth was complemented by this year’s quantum leap, a development which brought the school’s API test score to 741 and allowed it to meet all the national Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for the first time. Despite the strong surge in 2007-08, the most recent results were years in the making, attributable to a longstanding commitment to equity.

“We believe that all of our students can learn at the highest levels and we are focused on our goals,” Thomasberger explained. “We ask, ‘What do our students need to know? How do we know when they are learning? What do we do when they don’t?’ In addition, we see our parents as integral to the success our students and try to involve and engage them in all aspects of their children’s education.”

It’s no surprise, then, that some 300 people attended the Allendale celebration to watch the students receive commemorative certificates and bask in the glow of their achievements. A closer look at the numbers revealed even more reason for excitement. The school’s overall performance was complemented by encouraging progress in closing the achievement gap. Both African-American and Latino students boosted their CST scores dramatically, the latter group by an astounding 100 points in a single year.

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“One key reason Allendale has made such progress is the emphasis we have placed on staff development. We have devoted key resources so that our teachers can meet together in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to analyze student progress and set instructional goals,” Thomasberger added. “We believe that we have to ‘grow leadership’ of all of teachers so that they can develop as professionals and we have partnered with Lawrence Hall of Science, the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BAYCes), the UCLA School Management Program and other consultants to assist with this leadership training.”

That investment has produced substantial returns. Allendale’s benchmark scores on its English Language Arts (ELA) assessments are some of the highest in the District—performance, which suggests continued improvement on the next rounds of CSTs—but the results aren’t limited to test scores.

This year, Allendale opened an afterschool program for its Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) students and saw members of its community obtain recognition on a city and countywide level.The school currently boasts the third grade OUSD “Math Facts” champion, a first place winner in the city’s high profile Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical contest and Alameda County’s English Language Development (ELD) Coach of the Year. Clearly, Thomasberger and the rest of the Allendale community have a lot to celebrate.

A Turnaround Story Many places describe themselves as having all the attractions of a large city with the intimacy of a smaller town. Madison Middle School Principal Dr. Lucinda Taylor views her Sobrante Park campus in a similar light.

Bordered by a massive park and playground on one side and tree lined streets on another, Madison boasts an impressive gym, a track, a wealth of indoor and outdoor basketball courts and a courtyard specifically designated for sixth graders, all of which would be the envy of many schools with large student bodies. Yet, with just 251 students, Madison’s facilities – which are slated for a million dollar upgrade – are the province of a close-knit group.

“One thing that makes Madison extremely special is our diverse and committed parent community,” Taylor said. “This particular school has all the amenities of a large school but services shared by a small group of individuals.”

Increased support and involvement from that community has played an instrumental role in improving the atmosphere at Madison and dramatically boosting academic results. The school has sustained two consecutive years of substantial growth in CST scores, making it one of the District’s fastest-rising middle schools.

“Our philosophy revolves around meeting the needs students have and giving them a quality education regardless of their financial status,” Taylor explained. “We believe in the saying that all students can learn and that all adults at Madison, regardless of their position, are educators. We believe that and we foster that idea with our families to develop leaders within the community.”

Madison’s leaders of the future benefit from an extended day program. Classes at the school run from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and are followed by an after school program which allows students to remain on campus, with supervision, until 6:00 p.m. And while they’re in class, Madison students receive a significant amount of personal attention, courtesy of a class size reduction program that guarantees 1:20 teacher-to-student ratios.

All those teachers meet the government standard for a “Highly Qualified Teacher,” demonstrating the proper education, subject matter mastery, professional certification and pedagogical competency required to earn this

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designation. Madison’s 100-percent certification places it, along with a number of other schools, at the top of the District rankings.

Equally comprehensive is Madison’s student services program, which includes counselors, psychologists and case managers on-site, in addition to a full service nurse. These offerings will be augmented significantly with the development of Madison’s school-based health clinic, courtesy of a grant from Atlantic Philanthropies. Madison is one of five OUSD middle school campuses, along with Calvin Simmons, Cole, Havenscourt and Roosevelt, to receive the grant.

Madison provides yet more evidence of a school that is taking large strides and taking them rapidly. It’s the principal’s hope that perception of the school moves just as quickly, so it can catch up to reality.

“Madison is school that has historically had a negative reputation, so I think it’s so important that people come and sit in classes and make observations and judgments based on where Madison is right now not where it was three or four years ago,” Taylor explained. “Things have changed and now this school is a pillar in the community.”

On the Job Learning Those who are quick to draw a distinction between school and the “real world” have never witnessed the way academic and professional learning are blended at MetWest High School. This small but mighty school of 136 students from all parts of Oakland provides a college-prep curriculum, supplemented with workplace experience and complemented by personalized curriculum and instruction.

At MetWest, each student works with staff to design an individualized learning plan focused on their passion. At the heart of each plan is an internship that allows students to pursue their interests and discover whether the reality of working in their desired field lives up to the image they have created in their minds. Sometimes the internship provides a window into a dream career and other times it may prove disillusioning, but in either case, the opportunity serves a critical purpose that is fundamental to the MetWest curriculum: encouraging students to display initiative and fostering their development through firsthand experience.

Eve Gordon, principal of MetWest, described the strengths of the school’s unique program, “The internship program at MetWest provides our students with the opportunity to build positive relationships with professionals in fields of their interests, and to realize the relationship between academic and real world work. By interacting with adults across the city, students learn to communicate effectively across differences of culture, class, and ethnicity. By the time they graduate, they’ve developed a network of adults who know them well, value their ideas and contributions, and are willing to help them overcome the obstacles they will inevitably face on their road to adulthood. Through these relationships, we’re changing the futures our students can imagine for themselves, and we’re changing the way adults understand and feel committed to the next generation.

MetWest students also get an early start on adapting to college as they take classes at Laney College and develop rigorous academic projects based on the work they’re performing at their internship. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students spend four to six hours of their school days at their internship site where they are responsible for completing projects of genuine use to their hosts. Student interns are paired with mentors who oversee their work and provide evaluations to MetWest staff.

Senior Le’Jon Isaacs reflected on his internship experience, “MetWest has prepared me to take on future challenges that will benefit my growth as an individual. I learned that going into the adult world can be an

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exceptional feeling because it allows you to incorporate your thoughts, ideas, and passions into your daily life. My work experience inspired me to further my goals and push myself to achieve them.”

The focus on practical applications of the book learning that takes place in class is augmented by the social justice component of the MetWest curriculum, which explores issues of self-determination and the role youth can play in combating inequality and oppression.

Student Attendance in OUSD The state evaluates how often students attend school through a metric called Average Daily Attendance, or ADA. This metric is the basis on which all California school districts are funded on most major state funding streams, including General Fund revenue. 100 percent attendance would mean that every enrolled student attended school every day. Our district-wide ADA increased from 93.01 percent in the 2006-07 school year to 93.79 percent in 2007-08. From 2006-07 to 2007-08, attendance rates held at about the same level for elementary schools, dropped slightly in middle schools and jumped in high schools.

Though the District has seen improvement, OUSD ranks below the state average of 96 percent ADA. In order to accomplish the attendance goals outlined in the graph above, we’re partnering with city and county agencies to promote student attendance across Oakland. In addition, District leaders and principals continue to work with school staff to develop and encourage a culture of high attendance.

Oakland Takes to the Streets to Fight Truancy Government agencies, private corporations and non-profit organizations don’t always see eye-to-eye. One thing they can all agree on, however, is the urgent nature of Oakland’s truancy problem and the need to combat it. This consensus prompted the founding of the Truancy Task Force, a partnership of the Oakland Unified School

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District, Oakland City Council, the Alameda County Department of Education, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute and the City of Oakland Mayor’s Office.

The Truancy Task Force united to address one of the city’s most persistent and vexing problems and the result is Oakland’s Attend-and-Achieve Program. Spearheaded by OUSD Chief Services Officer Laura Moran, Attend-and- Achieve takes a holistic approach to boosting attendance. Instead of focusing merely on applying punitive measures for truants and their families, Attend-and-Achieve combines this method with outreach programs that seek to identify and remedy the root causes of truancy.

Sometimes that means going door-to-door in neighborhoods with high truancy rates, learning about tendencies in the area, distributing information to residents, encouraging them to report truants to the OUSD Tipline, asking them to serve as mentors to children and in extreme cases, staging pre-arranged interventions in the homes of truant students.

All these elements are part of OUSD’s Truancy Walks, a series of events held in neighborhoods throughout the city to draw attention to its truancy problem while acting to combat it. Truancy Walks bring together people of all stripes—students, staff, principals, central office administrators, community members, district attorneys, school board representatives and city council members—to canvass neighborhoods and share information about the wealth of resources at the school district, city, and county level for at-risk youth.

“When students attend school regularly, their performance improves and their future brightens,” explained Moran, who in addition to her duties as OUSD Chief Services Officer also serves as Attend-and-Achieve co-chair. “Boosting attendance is a critical step if we want to reach our academic goals and help our children fulfill their potential. In order to do that, we have to look critically at why children are truant and develop personal, targeted approaches to reach them.”

That means working with school administrators to identify at-risk children, knocking on doors to provide information about anti-truancy programs and asking residents to join mentorship programs that help prevent truancy. It’s all part of a campaign to create public awareness about the link between attendance and student achievement.

“Boosting attendance is a critical step if we want to reach our academic goals and help our children fulfill their potential,” said Board of Education Member Noel Gallo, a driving force behind the Attend-and-Achieve campaign. It’s essential that we go into the community and try to influence our kids as aggressively as those who seek to lead them astray.”

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Measuring Results

At OUSD, we measure how well we communicate with and support our students and parents through a variety of surveys, including the Use Your Voice survey. The Use Your Voice survey has been administered since 2006, and continues to give voices to students, parents, teachers, staff, and community members. District leadership uses survey results as a driver of improvements in Oakland public schools. Use Your Voice findings are highlighted on school, central office, and district scorecards and inform critical planning and budgeting decisions at all levels. The findings are also used to update the Board of Education and the entire community on the quality of adult performance, the District’s progress towards our overall goals, and the well being of our student body.

The Use Your Voice results detailed below reflect improvements in key areas of focus.

Academic Rigor We’re dedicated to ensuring that all of our students graduate prepared to succeed in college and career. In order to reach that goal, the District must offer a challenging curriculum to build the knowledge and skills necessary for Oakland students to thrive in a competitive world. In 2007-08, 81 percent of secondary students reported that their English courses successfully helped them to improve their reading and writing skills. Approximately 80 percent of those students also said that their math courses helped to improve their mathematical problem solving skills, up from 69 percent the previous year.

At the elementary level, 88 percent of students felt that their English Language Arts lessons had improved their reading and writing skills in 2007-08. Additionally, 92 percent of these students reported that their math lessons improved their mathematical problem solving skills.

When surveyed, 84 percent of OUSD parents agreed with the statement, “Teachers in my child’s school set high standards for student work.” Similarly, 83 percent of teachers, counselors, and principals felt that teachers were setting high standards for student performance.

Safety Higher percentages of students expressed feeling safe at school in 2007-08 than in 2006-07. In OUSD elementary schools, 81 percent of students agreed with the statement, “I feel safe at school,” during the 2006-07 school year. That number increased to 84 percent in 2007-08. In 2006-07, 65 percent of secondary school students reported feeling safe at school, and in 2007-08 that portion grew to almost 70 percent.

Still, safety continues to be a major concern and focus for the District. In order to increase safety in schools, the District reinstated its school police force this year. This force includes seven officers who work exclusively within OUSD schools. Their presence in the schools and focus on protecting students allows them to develop strong relationships within the school communities and a higher level of trust, which in turn helps to make the officers more effective.

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Clean Learning Environment Parent and student perceptions of school cleanliness increased from 2006-07 to 2007-08. In 2006-07, 44 percent of secondary students agreed with the statement, “The buildings and grounds at my school are clean most of the time.” That number jumped to 53 percent in 2007-08. Similarly, 76 percent of parents felt their child’s school was clean in 2006-07. That group grew to 84 percent during the 2007-08 school year. In elementary schools, 67 percent of students felt their schools were clean most of the time, up from 64 percent in 2006-07.

Continued Academic Performance Index Growth OUSD continues to make progress on the Academic Performance Index (API), gaining 16 points for a district total of 674 – making OUSD the most improved large, urban school district in California over the last four years. The API score summarizes a school district’s performance on the state’s standardized tests. The graph below shows the gains OUSD has made over the past six years.4

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The diligence of teachers and school site administrators, as well as increased professional development, the continuation of innovative instructional programs, regular district assessment of student progress, and increased parental involvement in the District has continued to drive the rising scores. “We are encouraged by the impressive progress across a wide range of schools, particularly at the elementary levels,” said OUSD’s Chief Academic Officer Brad Stam. The table below shows gains at individual school sites.

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*This API is calculated for a small school, defined as having between 11 and 99 valid Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program test scores included in the API. The API is asterisked if the school was small in either 2007 or 2008. APIs based on small numbers of students are less reliable and should be carefully interpreted.

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Several student subgroups demonstrated particularly impressive progress in their API performance. For example, Latino and Asian students made large strides, gaining 26 and 24 points on the API respectively. Other student populations, such as Filipino, Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, and English Learners made notable gains as well. A few subgroups saw a decline in API scores, including American Indian/Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, and Students with Disabilities.

We recognize that we have to redouble our efforts to address the learning needs or our Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native and Students with Disabilities populations. We are partnering with community-based organizations that support our Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native students and are engaging schools with concentrations of these students to tailor supports to their needs. We have launched a significant curriculum and professional development improvement initiative in our special education classrooms that includes an emphasis on individualized learning, literacy and technology. We expect these efforts to bear fruit in increased achievement of these populations in 2009.

In 2007-08, student proficiency increased in the critical areas of reading and math as compared to previous years on the California Standards Test (CST).5 OUSD student gains have outpaced those of students in other large, urban districts across California over the last four years. However, we continue to focus on meeting key benchmarks such as third grade reading proficiency and algebra proficiency by the end of the ninth grade. The graphs on the following page detail OUSD’s CST performance over the past four years.

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At OUSD, we measure success by the 3, 9, and 12 standard:

3 = how many students can read at or above grade level by the end of grade 3 9 = how many students succeed in Algebra by the end of grade 9 12 = how many of our students complete high school prepared to succeed in college and the workplace

These measures are important because we know that:

• third grade is a critical point when students begin to transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” in other subjects • success in algebra by the end of ninth grade is essential to access a rigorous, college-prep high school curriculum • for today’s 22-year old, a college degree means a million dollar bonus over the course of a career.

The graph below represents third grade and fourth grade reading proficiency, as measured by the CST, over the past six years.

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OUSD’s Network Algebra Initiative spans across our four secondary networks, and includes the following programs:

Summer Algebra Academies: An acceleration program to prepare rising eighth and ninth graders for algebra success the upcoming school year.

Summer Algebra Institute: Professional development for teachers and weekly Professional Learning Community collaboration around understanding common student challenges and the best techniques to address them.

Algebra Modules: This program is being piloted in our large high schools to help the many ninth graders who continue to fail algebra in ninth grade. Students will have multiple opportunities and variable time to master ten algebra modules. Each module is worth one credit, and all ten must be mastered (as demonstrated on common assessments) to earn the full ten A-G credits. When students do not master a module they can progress to the next module while attending an after-school program to catch up before re-testing.

Coaching New Algebra Teachers: Roughly 50% of our high school algebra teachers are new to the profession (either first or second year teachers.) Because teachers our most important asset, we are ramping up their support through professional development, coaching, and guided support groups across schools.

Ninth Grade Small Learning Communities: Incoming ninth grade classes in our large high schools have been divided into "houses" led by small teams of teachers. This structural improvement will provide ninth graders far more individualized support than in the past. Houses will monitor student progress closely and maintain pyramids of interventions for students who begin to struggle. Because of the importance of algebra, the houses are designed so that algebra teachers have a common prep period during which they can study student work several times a week and plan interventions for their classes and for individual students as needed.

The bar chart on the following page shows the percentage of ninth grade students who tested proficient in algebra, as measured by the CST over the last four years.

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In 1999, California passed new legislation to develop the California High School Exit Examination (CASHEE). All California public school students must satisfy the CASHEE requirement, as well as other state and local requirements, in order to receive a high school diploma. The purpose of the CASHEE is to improve student achievement in high school and to help ensure that students who graduate from high school can demonstrate grade-level competency in reading, writing and mathematics. We partner with the Peralta Colleges to support students who need additional help to pass the CASHEE. The CASHEE consists of two parts: English/Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. The table on the next page illustrates student performance in 2007-08.

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The chart below reflects the percentage of OUSD graduates who completed all courses (A-G) required for University of California and/or California State University entrance with a “C”-average or better. From 2004-05 to 2006-07, the number of graduates who passed these courses in OUSD increased from 29 percent to 31.5 percent.

OUSD’s four-year graduation rate improved from 55% to 69% over the past four years.

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Financial Review

Every employee at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) strives to ensure that each student has the best opportunity to excel in the classroom. Effectively distributing our limited resources is crucial to supporting this goal. Over the past year, OUSD has worked to create policies and processes that ensure we are being good stewards of the Oakland community’s contribution to educating our students. Looking ahead, OUSD will continue to build on our successes by, among other things, publishing a school budgeting handbook to assist with management of the Results-Based Budgeting process. On the following pages is additional information that shows the source of OUSD’s revenues and how OUSD spends that money, and describes the fiscal health of the District organization.

Financial Standing OUSD has made great strides towards improving its financial condition. Outlined below is a comparison of several accomplishments achieved over the past five years.

Financial Picture in 2003: • The adopted budget General Fund* balance for 2002-03: negative $59.7 million • Legally required reserve not budgeted • Negative certification from the Alameda County Office of Education • Bond rating outlook was negative

Financial Picture in 2008: • The ending General Fund* balance for 2007 -08: $41.5 million • Legally required reserve fully budgeted • Alameda County Office of Education raised certification to “qualified” • Bond rating outlook has increased from negative to stable • Debt to the state: $82,859,465

* General Fund consists of unrestricted and categorical funds.

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General Fund Revenues The District’s General Fund revenues come from a number of sources.6 The total General Fund Revenues in 2007-08 were $445,672,753. The state provided 77.8 percent of the revenue from the revenue limit and other state revenue.

Allocation of Resources by Fund The chart below summarizes the 2007-08 expenditures or all funds in the District. For a detailed review of these funds, please refer to the Appendix on page 46.

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School and Central Office GP—Unrestricted Allocations In order to better serve the needs of students and direct resources most appropriately, OUSD has devolved its budgeting authority from the central office to the schools. By moving resource allocation decisions closer to the classroom and supporting schools through tools such as Results-Based Budgeting, students’ needs are met more effectively. RBB provides more control to stakeholders, such as principals and School Site Councils, to direct the funding for their school. The primary metric to ensure that more dollars are being provided to schools is the percentage of unrestricted General Purpose dollars that are allocated to school sites.

The total unrestricted General Purpose budget in 2007-08 was $459.6 million, and 84 percent of that budget was allocated directly to schools.

General Fund Expenditures The total General Fund expenditures in 2007-08 were $450,745,617 with salaries and benefits making up 68 percent of expenditures.

The General Fund comprises 74 percent of the District's total resources. Staff expenses, such as salary and benefits, account for 68 percent of General Fund expenditures, while the remaining 32 percent is dedicated to non-labor expenses including books, supplies, services, and other operating costs.

Certificated salaries are primarily for jobs related to instruction. There are positions such as principals, teachers, and counselors. Classified salaries are for positions such as instructional aides, clerical staff, buildings and grounds employees, custodians and school office managers.

OUSD continues to invest in strategies that provide quality teaching, clean environments, and additional opportunities to learn. For example, in 2007-08 OUSD invested $127 million in teacher salaries. To support clean and maintained classrooms and facilities, OUSD invested $16 million in custodians. OUSD also invested $20 million in after-school programs.

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The Budget Crisis We are in the middle of a worsening economic crisis. The financial impact to OUSD has been great, and in order to pull through this crisis we must stay focused on ensuring that a quality core instructional program remains in place. OUSD shaved $12.5 million from the 2008-09 budget and has reduced the budget for the 2009-10 academic year by $28.5 million in order to compensate for decreased funding from the state.

• The 2009-10 cuts planned for school sites reduce total site allocations by 4.5 percent from 2008-09 and represent 23 percent of total OUSD unrestricted cuts ($6.6 million).

• The 2009-10 cuts planned for central office teams reduce the central office budget by 43 percent from 2008-09 and represent 77 percent of total OUSD unrestricted cuts (just under $22 million).

At the time this report was published, further cuts at the state level had been announced and another $21 million in cuts to OUSD’s 2009-10 budget are anticipated.

Our approach to managing devastating funding cuts reflects our core values as an organization. We continue to do all we can to shield school sites from budget cuts. The Central Office has taken on the brunt of the reductions required in order to maintain a balanced budget. However, school site budgets will be leaner next year than in previous years and site administrators will be forced to stretch limited resources farther than ever.

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OUSD has developed a multi-faceted plan designed to maintain financial stability and prevent layoffs of tenured certificated employees stemming from the state budget cuts. The decision to avoid layoffs of tenured certificated staff recognizes our recent history of threatened layoffs and the importance of job preservation for our employees in these very uncertain economic times. It also separates OUSD from the majority of its counterparts. We plan to address budget shortfalls and avoid teacher layoffs by:

• Ensuring that staff reductions take place as far away from the classroom as possible • Combining typical attrition with a staff restructuring that reconfigures the district organizational chart • Instituting a targeted hiring freeze (focused on central office positions) • Reducing central administration funding by a minimum of 10 percent • Cutting labor and non-labor costs and consulting expenses to minimize impact on full-time employees • Making a one-time withdrawal from our reserve fund while maintaining the two percent designation required by law for times of fiscal uncertainty • Reducing school site funding allocations and allowing each school community to determine the services most critical to supporting student achievement

Other belt-tightening measures include, but are not limited to:

• Schools will be allowed to carryover 80 percent of unspent funds in selected school-based resources. • The District is holding back certain categorical dollars in the event that categorical flexibility is available. • There is a temporary freeze on all out-of-state travel. • District leaders are further increasing scrutiny of contracts using General Purpose resources. • Possibilities for reducing employee overtime are being investigated.

Making History OUSD was proud to receive a three-year grant to promote teaching history in district schools. This award marks the third time the District has received the $984,000 grant from the federal government. Awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, the “Teaching American History Grant (TAHG)” aims to increase student achievement in the study of American History by funding professional development opportunities for teachers of the subject. The goals of the project include deepening teacher knowledge of significant individuals, events, and ideas in American history, building teacher understanding of how to use historical inquiry to enhance student knowledge, and training teachers to integrate reading, writing, and history to improve students’ historical literacy skills.

The independent evaluation of the previous TAHG projects found that teacher participants demonstrated consistent improvement in their American history content knowledge and instructional approaches. In addition, the evaluator found that “eighth and eleventh grade students in participating teachers’ classrooms scored significantly higher than students in classrooms of non-participating teachers on the 2006 California Standard Test (CST) in history.”

“This is a different type of staff development in which we are witnessing historians doing their craft,” said one participating fifth grade teacher. An eighth grade teacher wrote, “Because of my participation in this project, my students are expressing themselves more in writing. I think they are getting a better understanding of American history and how things have changed, and they are able to give good reasons for those changes.”

Titled, “The Oakland History Collaborative: Teaching American History in an Urban School District, ” this year’s new grant is a partnership that brings together OUSD Instructional Services, the University of California Department of History, the University of California History-Social Science Project, The Oakland Museum of California History, and The Peralta Hacienda House in Oakland.

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Hands-on Science At a time when American students are falling behind many other nations in science proficiency, two Oakland schools reaped the benefits of a $960,000 grant to engage students in science learning. The funds, courtesy of the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) will help Franklin and Grass Valley Elementary implement the ACES (Advancing Collaboration for Equity in Science Project) over the next four years. A partnership of UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Hall of Science and the Oakland Unified School District, ACES aims to improve science content knowledge while boosting writing skills, narrowing the achievement gap and developing a lifelong-love of science in elementary and middle school children.

The grant monies are being used in part to fund the use of FOSS (Full Option Science System) curriculum that Lawrence Hall of Science developed to increase understanding of Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science. The FOSS system consists of 33 interactive modules geared toward a specific component of science learning such as “Structures of Life” and “Magnetism and Electricity”. The program, which integrates reading, writing and mathematics within the context of student readings, science journals, and student projects, is supported by extensive professional development for teachers and encourages increased family engagement in the learning process.

“This generous grant gives our teachers a flexible, easy-to-use science program that promotes scientific literacy, hands-on, collaborative learning, student discourse and assessment,” explained Mary Buttler, OUSD’s Director of Instructional Services. “FOSS moves away from the idea that students should passively absorb science, toward a model of real engagement and experience that can inspire a passion for knowledge and understanding.”

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College-Bound Students

OUSD’s goal is for all students to graduate prepared to succeed in college and the workplace. Congratulations to all college-bound seniors who graduated from Oakland high schools in 2008!

Listed below are the numbers of college-bound seniors who graduated from each Oakland high school.

• Business Entrepreneurial School of Technology (BEST): 29 • Castlemont Business Information & Technology School: 32 • College Prep & Architecture Academy: 44 • Dewey Academy: 54 • East Oakland School of the Arts: 55 • Excel High School: 42 • Far West: 11 • Leadership Preparatory High School: 67 • Life Academy: 44 • Mandela High School: 39 • Media College Preparatory High School: 40 • MetWest High School: 28 • Oakland High School: 188 • Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy: 47 • Oasis High School: 37 • Oakland Technical High School: 182 • Robeson School of Visual & Performing Arts: 13 • Rudsdale High School: 21 • Skyline High School: 138 • Sojourner Truth Independent Study: 15 • Street Academy: 17 • Wilson College Prep: 33 • Youth Empowerment School: 28

Total college-bound graduates: 1,204

AP Scholars In 2008, 116 Oakland Unified students qualified as “AP Scholars” in recognition of their exceptional results on the college-level test. Just 18 percent of the 1.6 million students who sat for the AP exams nationwide earned this distinction, which gives students an advantage in the college admissions process and, at many institutions, advanced placement and college credit upon enrollment. AP Scholar awards are bestowed on students who demonstrate university-level achievement by earning scores of three (out of five) or higher on at least three separate exams.

“We were thrilled to see that so many Oakland students are not only taking advantage of the rigorous college- level curriculum offered in Advanced Placement courses, but also demonstrating mastery of the material on the AP exams,” said OUSD Chief Academic Officer Brad Stam. “Thanks to their hard work and the efforts of their

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teachers, these students will enter university fully prepared for the demands of college-level instruction and with a leg up on many of their peers.”

Fifty-three students from Skyline High School, 41 students from Oakland Technical High, 20 students from Oakland High and one student each from College Prep and Architecture and from Mandela High were named AP scholars in 2008.

And They’re Off! Listed below are the colleges and universities that our graduating seniors reported that they would be attending in the fall.

Alabama State CSU Northridge Alameda Beauty College CSU Sacramento Alameda College CSU San Francisco Alcorn State University CSU San Jose Azusa Pacific University CSU San Marcos Barber College CSU Sonoma Bard College California Culinary Academy Berkeley City College Columbia College Bethune Cookman College Culinary Arts Academy Brooks College Delta Sierra Community College Brown University Diablo Valley College Cabrillo College Dillard University California Culinary Academy Dominican College California Maritime Academy Elizabeth State University Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Evergreen University Central Piedmont Community College Expressions Chabot College Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising City College of San Francisco Florida A&M University Clark Atlanta University Florida Memorial University Clark University Florida State University Clemson University Fullerton Community College College of Alameda George Washington University Concordia College Global College of Long Island University Contra Costa College Grambling State University Coppin State University Harvard University Corsita of the Arts Harvey Mudd College Cornell University Heald College CSU Bakersfield Holy Names College CSU Chico Howard University CSU Dominguez Hills ITT Tech CSU East Bay Johnson C. Smith University CSU Fresno Johnson & Wales University CSU Humbolt Laney College CSU Long Beach Los Angeles City College CSU Los Angeles Los Medanos College CSU Maritime Louisiana State University CSU Merced Loyola Marymount University CSU Monterey Bay Manhattan Music Conservatory

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Manhattanville College Philander Smith College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Portland State University McHenry County College Prairie View A&M McGill University Sacramento City College Marlboro College Sacramento Community College Merced Community College San Francisco Academy of Art College Merritt College San Francisco City College Mills College San Francisco College of Arts Morehouse College San Jose City College Morris College Santa Barbara City College Northwestern University Santa Monica Community College Oberlin College Santa Rosa Junior College Oglethorpe University Southern Methodist University Ohlone College Southern Oregon University Oregon State University Southern Utah University Pacific College Southern University Parsons School of Design Spelman College Peralta Community College Stillman College

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St. Mary’s College University of Hawaii Texas Southern University University of Mexico Tidewater Community College University of Miami Tuskeegee University University of Nevada, Las Vegas Universal Technical Institute University of Nevada, Reno Universidad de las Americas University of the Pacific University of California, Berkeley University of Pennsylvania University of California, Davis University of Southern California University of California, Irvine Wagner College University of California, Los Angeles Washington State University University of California, Merced Wellesley University of California, Riverside Western Career College University of California, San Diego Willberforce University University of California, Santa Barbara Wyotech University of California, Santa Cruz Xavier University University of Great Falls Yale University

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Leadership in the Arts

The Oakland Unified School District is playing a leading role in Alameda County’s Arts Learning Anchor School Initiative and building a national model for arts integration. Thirty of the 45 Alameda Arts Anchor Schools are OUSD schools. Working closely with local, regional, state, and national arts organizations and arts providers, the OUSD Visual and Performing Arts Department is creating models of arts-integrated curriculum and instruction, offering innovative professional development workshops and training, and building a collaborative partnership of arts organizations in an effort to provide an arts-integrated education to every child, in every school, every day.

Current Initiatives The goals of the Arts Learning Anchor School program are:

• to provide access to quality arts instruction for an increasing number of OUSD students • to prepare teachers to teach in and through the arts • to build school cultures that support quality arts learning

The program has reached over 300 teachers in an in-depth, site-based fashion over the last four years.

Recent Accomplishments • Over 30 Arts Learning Anchor Schools have established arts learning programs and goals. These schools were chosen by a committee of those applicants. Students at these sites receive instruction in an arts discipline, and teachers receive professional development in teaching the arts. This includes six high schools, seven middle schools, 17 elementary schools, one K-2 special needs school, and three Arts Learning Leadership Schools providing experienced support to principals who are new to arts learning.

• More than 260 teachers have received 10-40 hours each of classroom/site-based professional development in teaching and/or integrating the arts.

• 5855 students are receiving instruction in one or more arts disciplines paid for by the Arts Learning Anchor Grant at their site (12-35 hours per student).

• More than 90 teachers participated in an intensive week-long Summer Institute in the Arts and Arts Integration last June.

• Exhibitions of student and teacher learning will be offered at each Arts Learning Anchor Site throughout the spring of 2009.

The locations of OUSD Arts Learning Anchor Schools.

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OUSD Music Programs In 2007-08, OUSD Music Programs served 67 elementary schools, ten middle schools, and five high schools. Over the past decade, festival concerts have become a rich tradition and 2007-08 was no different. Jazz and Orchestra festivals highlight our outstanding secondary music programs; the Elementary Music Festival involved 45 elementary schools at 15 different festival sites; and in 2008, the first ever District Honor Band Festival was held at Roosevelt Middle School. The Musicians for Excellence (MUSE) Program, a collaborative partnership between OUSD music teachers and Oakland East Bay Symphony Musicians, continues to expand its presence and to improve the quality of OUSD music programs by providing music instruction to OUSD musicians at ten school sites.

In 2007, Westlake Music Teacher Randy Porter, formed “Big O,” the Oakland Music Teachers Big Band, and since then has performed at the Solano Stroll, The Oakland East Bay Symphony Gala, the OUSD Expect Success Ceremony, and various other events in the Oakland community. OUSD Music Programs continue to grow and thrive with additional financial support from local parcel tax Measures E and G.

Music Integration Literacy Enhancement (MILE) The MILE Project is a professional development network of music specialists and classroom teachers working together to design and implement music- integrated curricula at the elementary level. This initiative is a creative response to the current reality, which limits the access of lower performing students to music programs. MILE shares a vision of professional learning communities that use music to reflect the unique and diverse character of their community, and one that encourages inquiry and exploration. The MILE process empowers teachers to rethink the way children access the arts, and the ways in which they enter the learning environment through music. OUSD Music Programs continue to expand this work and to contribute their findings to a national knowledge base. The OUSD MILE Program is nationally recognized as a model of music integration in an urban setting.

Museum of Children’s Art Open Court Reading Visual Arts Integration The Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) Open Court Reading Visual Arts Integration project has produced classroom-tested teacher manuals for visual arts lessons from grades K-5. These manuals are available for any school to purchase. The key to implementing these carefully constructed lessons is the professional development that goes along with the manuals and is currently offered by MOCHA instructors. This is a program that has been adopted by 141 teachers at 31 schools. The Open Court/Visual Arts four-day training has been offered during the summer to groups of teachers from various sites. Follow-up sessions are held monthly for teachers to share successes and present challenges.

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Dance The K-12 Dance Infrastructure project is led by the nationally acclaimed Luna Kids Dance organization. One OUSD school, Tilden, was recently recognized as a model in disability education by Very Special Arts. This school has seen the benefit of dance over the last four years for their students. Meanwhile, teacher leaders are being developed at elementary, middle, and high school levels, coming together to shape a sequential dance curriculum. One of the recent successes is adding dance instruction at two middle schools, Claremont and Westlake.

OUSD Summer Arts Institute The comprehensive 5-Day Summer Arts Institute was offered for the third year in June 2008. Over 80 Oakland teachers attended, along with 50 teachers from other districts throughout Northern California. Workshops include Music Integration, Dance, Theatre, Spoken Word, Visual Arts, Cultural Arts, Arts for Social Justice, and an Arts Integration Practicum. Since its inception, the OUSD Summer Arts Institute has provided over 200 OUSD teachers with 30-40 hours of in-depth, standards-based professional development in all of the arts disciplines.

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Health and Wellness Food for Thought Improving the foods and health and wellness services available on Oakland school campuses is a continuous process—one that takes fine-tuning, commitment, and support from parents, teachers, staff, and administrators. The District’s Nutrition Services Employees are striving to improve the quality of options in the midst of increasing food and fuel costs, while simultaneously facing decreases in funding.

As we work toward ensuring that our menus meet the new nutritional guidelines and high standards of the Oakland Unified School District’s Wellness Policy, we celebrate our successes and look forward to making more progress.

During the 2007-08 academic year, OUSD’s Nutrition Services team was able to implement the following improvements:

• All fryers have been removed from all schools • The District stopped serving 2% milk—now only non-fat and 1% milk are available to students • The District stopped serving whole fat cheeses • OUSD offers universally-free breakfast and lunch programs at several sites, providing free meals to all students regardless of their economic status (free, reduced, or paid) • Salad Bar programs were launched at 32 sites • All Gatorade and fruit-flavored beverages were replaced with 100% fruit juices • We set limits on the amount of sugar in cereals served to students—the limit is now no more than six grams of sugar per serving • Cup-of-Noodles was eliminated as an la carte item • We increased the availability of fresh and dried fruits and vegetables during breakfast and lunch • We adjusted a la carte offerings, taking away those entrees and side dishes with high calorie, fat, and saturated fat content • Ninety percent of white breads served were eliminated, and replaced with whole-grain options • New whole grain items were introduced, like Whole Grain Corn Dogs • An educational Harvest of the Month program was rolled out at over 30 sites Photo: Tim Wagner for UEAC

Starting in 2008-09 Nutrition Services plans to: • Continue expansion of the Salad Bar Program • Post Nutritional Information for all foods served through Nutrition Services. • Implement the Student Secret Shopper Program for cafeterias • Only serve chocolate milk one day a week (non-fat and regular 1% milk will be available every day) • Increase the amount of cooking that is done from scratch • Ensure that all items are trans-fat free • Ensure all new items do not have high fructose corn syrup

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• Implement a menu program at high schools that promotes cooking from scratch • Provide fresh baked pizza in high schools • Pilot a cooking-from-scratch menu at an elementary school

A Fresh Choice Making healthy food choices got a bit easier for students attending the OUSD schools featuring new salad bars this year. The goal of the salad bar program is to expose our students to healthier foods and encourage better eating habits. Schools’ salad options are loaded with fresh, vitamin- and mineral-rich fruits and vegetables.

These 18 sites are already on the road to empowering students with healthful selections: Edna Brewer Middle School; Castlemont Community of Small Schools; Chabot Elementary; Claremont Middle School, Colisium College Prep, Esperanza Elementary; Garfield Elementary, Fruitvale Elementary; Korematsu Elementary; Manzanita Community School, Manzanita SEED, McClymonds Community of Small Schools; Montclair Elementary, Roosevelt Middle School; ROOTS International, Calvin Simmons; Thornhill Elementary; and Westlake Middle School.

Each week a featured salad is presented with seven additional choices, such as cucumbers, jicama with lime, yogurt, corn, radishes, peaches, and broccoli, to name just a few. Chicken, tuna, and boiled eggs are offered as protein choices, with a variety of dressings available.

Nutrition Services is working to open salad bars at a dozen additional schools during the 2008-09 academic year and has committed to opening salad bars at every site that wants one. However, one obstacle still remains: limited funding. Each salad bar program requires an initial investment of $3,500- $20,000 for equipment, installation, training, and marketing. Some sites will need a larger investment because of the state of their facilities.

The Nutrition Services team has been able to start and expand the program through partnerships with outside funders such as Hidden Valley, Kraft Foods, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, Albertson’s and a HEAC (Healthy Eating Active Communities) grant. Active PTAs have also been able to raise funds to boost district funding.

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Footnotes

1. California Department of Education, 2008. Data Quest website. http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest. Sacramento, CA. Ethnic and racial categories may be different than represented in other sources. Some figures have been consolidated.

2. California Department of Education, 2008. Data Quest website. http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest. Sacramento, CA. Compensatory education includes those students receiving federal and state assistance.

3. California Department of Education, 2008. Data Quest website. http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest. Sacramento, CA. Job classifications of office/clerical, paraprofessional, and other classified are considered classified staff. The remaining job classifications: teachers, pupil services, and administrators are certified staff.

4. Academic Performance Index (API) reports. California Department of Education. 2002-2007 API Growth Report – District API. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/apireports.asp. Growth is defined as the difference between the previous year’s Base API and the current year’s Growth API. The API growth target information is not applicable to LEAs or to schools in the Alternative Schools Accountability Model. Direct- funded charter schools are not included in the LEA report.

5. California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Research Files 2003-2008. California Department of Education. http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2008/viewreport.asp?rf=True&ps=True. Proficiency rate is defined as those students achieving proficient or advanced scores on the CST ELA test and the CST Algebra I test. Additional detail about the calculation of test scores and proficiency rates can be found at: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2008.

6. Department of Finance. 2008. Oakland Unified School District. Source of revenue represent 2007-2008 unaudited actuals. The revenue limit is comprised of pass-through property taxes that are distributed by the California Department of Education each year. Total revenue includes all funds for the District both restricted and unrestricted dollars. Compensatory education programs are targeted at students with special needs strictly identified by the federal government.

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Appendix

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