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Oakland Unified School District

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Oakland Unified School District is a public education school district which operates elementary schools (K-5), middle schools (6-8), and high schools (9-12) in Oakland, California.

History

The Oakland Unified School District was founded in the 19th century as part of the city's birth as a bedroom community for families working in San Francisco. Today the district includes over 120 schools including several dozen sites that have been founded or redesigned as part a nationwide small schools movement.

Oakland schools had a long history of racial injustice, being called at one time the "mississippi of the west". For example, Oakland was a testing ground for the use of I.Q. tests which were being piloted by Stanford professor and leader of the Eugenics movement, Lewis Terman, in the early 20th Century. Terman's research assistant, Virgil Dickson, was appointed Director of Research for the Oakland Public Schools, under the administration of Superintendent Hunter, and they created one of the first tracking systems in the country using the newly-created group I.Q. tests.[1] Oakland was chosen because it had greater diversity than nearby Palo Alto and Terman needed diversity to work on the racial views expounded in his book, Measurement of Intelligence, published in 1916, which asserted that Northern European whites were the most intelligent.

Oakland teachers went on month-long strikes in 1986 and 1996.

In 2003, the state Legislature passed an emergency $100 million loan for the insolvent school district leading to state control of the 48,000-student school system. Dr. Randolph E. Ward, Ed.D., was appointed on June 2, 2003 to serve as state administrator for the school district.[1]

Schools

The Oakland Unified School District (2006–2007) includes 59 elementary schools, 23 middle schools, 19 high schools, with 9 alternative education schools and programs, 4 adult education schools and early childhood education centers at most of the elementary schools [2] There are 46,000 K-12 students, 32,000 adult students, and 6,000 plus employees.[3]

Elementary schools

See list of Oakland, California elementary schools

Middle schools

See list of Oakland, California middle schools

High schools

See list of Oakland, California high schools

Test Scores

Oakland's public schools have had a dramatically varied performance for years. In the English portion of the 2008 California Standard Tests, only 21% of 11th grade students score at least "proficient" on the English section of the test.[2] while over 50% of students taking the test performed "below basic".[3] However, these English scores are consistent with Alameda County averages, in which only 21% of students scored at least "proficient" on the 2009 CST English section, and California State averages in which only 22% of students scored at least "proficient" on the 2009 CST English section. [4] [5]

Individual schools have dramatically varied performance, for instance

  • In 2008 100% of the 7th-grade students at Hillcrest Elementary School performed at either "proficient" or "advanced" level in the English portion of the tests, with 73% scoring at advanced.
  • In 2008 0% of 11th-grade students at EXCEL high school scored at proficient or advanced level in Mathematics, with 11% scoring at least proficient (0% advanced) in English.

Despite periods of lower academic success, the decision by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to downsize school sizes towards small school environments in recent years has correlated with increased academic improvement across the district. According to SRN Leads at Stanford University, "Over the period 2003-04 to 2007-08, new small schools have been, on average, more productive than older schools at the elementary and high school levels." [6] Since the movement started in 2003, the California Department of Education rated OUSD the most improved large, urban school district in California for 6 consecutive years, and the number of OUSD schools scoring over 800 on the 1,000 point California Accountability Progress Report 2009 rose from 5 to 34. [7]

Additionally, several notable charter schools in the district - in particular, schools that have implemented the American Indian Model - have performed outstandingly on the California Standards Tests.

  • In 2009, American Indian Public Charter School received a 977 API out of a possible 1000.[4] Its sister schools, American Indian Public Charter School II and American Indian Public High School, received APIs of 933 and 946, respectively.[5][6]
  • Oakland Charter Academy and Oakland Charter High School, also on the American Indian Model, received APIs of 943 and 955 in 2009.[7][8]

The American Indian Public Charter School is currently the fourth highest scoring middle school in the state of California.

Budget Issues

Oakland Unified is one of many school districts in California that is dealing with a large budget crisis. In 2010, OUSD's budget deficit totaled $29 million, despite implementing a 10% budget cut ($70 million) from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010. [8] The district has listed a number of possible actions to mitigate the budget crisis, including "closing schools, increasing class sizes, cutting or reducing services to schools, employee furloughs, pay and/or benefit cuts, teacher and/or staff layoffs, or some combination of the above." [9]

A November 2010 parcel tax was one of the solutions provided to ease OUSD's budget crisis, by providing additional outside revenue for Oakland teachers.

2010 November Parcel Tax

The enactment of a parcel tax to increase teacher salaries was an option on the 2010 November ballot that would have taxed Oakland citizens $195 annually for ten years. [10] It would have generated $20m annually and would have been appropriated in the following manner: 80% toward OUSD teacher compensation; 15% toward Oakland Charter teacher compensation; 5% toward professional development for new teachers. [11] A parcel tax would have transferred some of the burden of teacher salaries from the district to the taxpayers, providing a temporary boost in salary to Oakland teachers, who are some of the lowest paid in the county. Ed-data, which collaborates with the CA Department of Education to compile data on California school districts, shows that Oakland teacher average pay of $54,157/year is only 80% of the state average, $66,642. In the cities surrounding Oakland, Piedmont pays an average $71,832; Hayward pays an average $73,260; San Leandro pays an average $70,877; and Albany pays and average $60,116. [12]

In the November ballot, Measure L was defeated, gaining support from only 65.24% of voters. This was short of the 76% margin that was needed for a 2/3 majority. [13]

Ebonics controversy

In December 1996, the Oakland school board made nationwide news when it passed a resolution declaring "Ebonics", also known as African American Vernacular English, a language of its own and not a dialect of English.[9]. The move was lambasted by critics, based partially on the misconception that schools would be "teaching" Ebonics rather than standard English.[10] The actual intention was to use a particular set of strategies to bridge students from their home-language to the standardized forms required by school systems. One media consultant, at the time, referred to the press response as a "media race riot." The validity of the school board's position was argued by numerous linguists and educators.[11]

Videojournalist arrest

On October 31, 2008, Art Michel, Police Chief of the Oakland School District's Police Department, arrested an Oakland Tribune videojournalist who carried an official press pass while filming school district students marching in a political protest outside the Fruitvale BART station.[12]

The videographer was arrested and detained, her news videotape of the protest was officially taken from her possession at the scene of the arrest by police, but returned several days later.[13] The videographer turned on her video camera during the heated confrontation that preceded the arrest, in which Michel repeatedly cursed and yelled at her.[12]

After the incident, the school district did not disclose any disciplinary proceedings for Michel. On November 4, 2008, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office announced it would not charge the videographer with Michel's complaints of vandalism, blocking a street and inciting a riot.[14] On January 6, 2009, an OUSD spokesman announced Michel would be resigning from the district.

Michel's resignation came in the wake of questions that recently arose about Michel's employment in light of his retirement status, such as whether he was "double-dipping" by receiving a salary from one public entity and retirement benefits from another.[15] Michel retired from the Oakland Police Department as a sergeant in 2003 after 31 years of service. In 2007, he joined the newly resurrected Oakland school district force.[15]

Famous graduates

Famous Oakland public school graduates include Hollywood actors Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood, and NBA basketball all-stars Gary Payton and Bill Russell. Hanks, having started acting at Skyline High School, thanked his acting teacher Rawley T. Farnsworth in his speech at the Oscars for winning the Best Actor award. Hanks later donated $125,000 to the Skyline performing arts department. Long-time Congressman and later Mayor of Oakland, Ronald V. Dellums, was a graduate of Oakland Technical High School.

References

  1. ^ Epstein, K.K. (2006) A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory and Unexplored Realities. NY: Peter Lang
  2. ^ OUSD Schools & Principals 2006-2007. Accessed August 31, 2007.
  3. ^ OUSD Board of Education Overview. Accessed August 31, 2007.
  4. ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=01612596113807
  5. ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=01612590114363
  6. ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=01612590111856
  7. ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=01612596111660
  8. ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=01612590114868
  9. ^ The Ebonics Resolution
  10. ^ Junk Science and the Ebonics Resolution
  11. ^ Perry, T. (1998) The Real Ebonics Debate. NY: Beacon Press
  12. ^ a b Oakland Tribune (4 November 2008). "Police detain news videographer during protest at Oakland BART station". Oakland Tribune.
  13. ^ Oakland Tribune (3 November 2008). "Videotape seized by schools police returned to Oakland Tribune". Oakland Tribune.
  14. ^ Oakland Tribune (4 November 2008). "DA will not charge Oakland Tribune photojournalist". Oakland Tribune.
  15. ^ a b Oakland Tribune (6 January 2009). "Oakland schools police chief resigns". Oakland Tribune.
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