OUSD Strategic Planning - January Update

January 12, 2011

In Latest News

Oakland Unified has 6 months remaining on its timeline to complete a new 5-year strategic plan for public education in the City of Oakland.

This process is a powerful opportunity for community members -- parents, students, teachers, principals, taxpayers, school and central office employees, charter school employees and families, nonprofit, labor, faith, elected, and business leaders -- to provide input and resources, and build relationships to realize the aspirations of our ambitious new strategic direction -- Community Schools, Thriving Students.

The process began in June 2010, when our Board of Education approved Thriving Students and announced 14 task forces that will each draft chapters of a 5-year strategic plan. The expectation is that each chapter will include 1-, 3-, and 5-year implementation milestones for the Oakland Board of Education to review and adopt by June 2011.

At a December retreat, the Board of Education heard 5-minute updates from each of the task force leaders about the objectives and progress of their work.

Click the images for video clips of the individual task force updates.

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Effective Teaching
Will make recommendations to improve the evaluation system, hiring practices, compensation, career pathways, and professional development for OUSD teachers.

 

Upcoming Event(s): January 20 from 4:30-6:30pm at Cole (1011 Union Street) 

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African American Male Achievement
Has opportunity to develop out-of-the-box solutions and bring together resources to ensure that African-American males thrive in Oakland.

Upcoming Event(s): January 11 from 5:00 - 7:30pm at location TBA

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Quality Community Schools Development
Will develop school quality standards for all Oakland public schools and a process through which to support and hold all schools in the portfolio accountable for meeting the standards -- implications for closures, new school development, turnarounds, and role of charters.

Upcoming Event(s): January 10 at 5pm at Tilden School, 4551 Steele Street

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Regional Governance
Will 1) make recommendations about how local community and OUSD can share governance of schools; 2) do asset mapping of each region and align resources and services, 3) identify specific strategies for moving region forward

Upcoming Event(s): TBA

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Effective Principal and Leadership

Will define the criteria by which Oakland hires, develops, and evaluates principals

Upcoming Event(s): January 25 from 4-6pm at the Tilden Campus, 4551 Steele Street, Portable D

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Results Based Budgeting
Will make recommendations about 1) what decision-making authority school communities have over budgets and spending and 2) the funding formulas for allocating resources (how much money each school receives)

Upcoming Event(s): TBA

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Options and School Choice
Will determine the future of school choice in Oakland

Upcoming Event(s): January 24 from 6:30-8:00pm, Westlake Middle School (2629 Harrison Street)

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Facilities and Asset Management

Will identify potential revenue sources from facilities assets and make recommendations on the optimal number and size of schools in each region.

Upcoming Event(s): TBA

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Core Curriculum

Will answer the question of what students will need to know and be able to do at each grade level in order to be ready for both college and careers upon graduation.

Upcoming Event(s): January 11 at 4pm, Tilden School Auditorium (4551 Steele Street)

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Financial and Operational Readiness

Will make recommendations to eliminate OUSD's structural deficit and improve the efficiency of OUSD operations and support systems.

Upcoming Event(s): TBA

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Full Service Community Schools

Will define what OUSD means by full service community schools (FSCS) and full service community district. Will design a rubric for the components of a FSCS so that schools can rate their status in becoming a FSCS and determine where they need to work.

Upcoming Event(s): January 13 from 3:30-6:00pm at 495 Jones Street

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Healthy Kids, Healthy Oakland Data

Will develop a single-shared data system which will include academic performance, test scores, attendance, truancy, nutrition, housing, physical/mental health, recreation, crime/violence, etc.

Upcoming Event(s): TBA

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Literacy
Develop approach to ensuring literacy for college and career readiness pre-k to grade 12

Upcoming Event(s):January 11 at 4pm, Tilden School Auditorium (4551 Steele Street)

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Secondary Experience and Achievement

Will make recommendations to redesign the secondary experience to ensure that all students graduate and meet the board's new policy around UC/CSU A-G requirements.

Upcoming Event(s): February 3 at location TBA

Click here to view a 90 minute video of the presentations.

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CALL TO ACTION

One of our most deeply held values as Oaklanders is that those impacted by decisions should be included in the decision-making. Many community organizations and voices expressed interest in helping shape this new strategic plan for Oakland public schools.

Over the next 6 months, it is up to each of us as parents, educators, and community members to show up to listen, share, dialogue, and create the bright future our children and youth deserve.

We urge members of the GO network (particularly teachers and parents) to consider joining and/or participating on a task force.

This is our education community's opportunity to shape the future of Oakland public schools.

Together, we can seize this moment to establish an innovative and student-centered direction for our city's public schools.

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FIVE IDEAS FOR IMPACT

1) Start participating in a task force yourself - and ask one friend or colleague to join you!

2) Bring task forces up at your School Site Council, PTA, or ELAC meeting and ask other parents and teachers to commit to participating.

3) Send an email directly to the Task Force lead with your experiences and perspective.

4) Make the OUSD Calendar or GO's OUSD strategic planning portal the homepage on your browser so you stay informed about the latest news.

5) Be positive and solution-oriented whatever you do!

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RELATED CONTENT

GO statement from June 2010 expressing support for the Board of Education's unanimous adoption of this new direction developed with the leadership of Superintendent Smith and asking for greater emphasis and further discussion about the role of effective teaching and empowered school communities within the new framework.

GO letter from October 2010 raising questions about the pace of the work and task force membership, composition, and participation expectations.

Blog post about October 28 meeting when GO hosted OUSD task force leaders for an update on the planning process and dialogue within each strategic planning task force.

OUSD Task Force Website and Calendar

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