OUSD at the Tipping Point

October 24, 2011

In News Blog

 
Oakland's flatland schools have seen a significant and historic rise in student achievement over the past ten years. The movement to create small schools has been one of the main engines of this success, essential to OUSD being the most improved urban school district in California for the past 7 years. And yet, we hear this movement described as 'failed'. It is being blamed for OUSD's current financial woes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the fiscal crisis is rooted in shrinking state and federal income and a 40% drop in enrollment since 1999.

Started by parents in 1999, it grew out of frustration with deep inequities in low-income communities of color. It has led to the creation of over 40 small full-service community schools. In 1999, all 5 schools with API scores above 800 [considered a successful school] were located in the hills above Highway 580.  In contrast, all 42 schools with API scores below 500 were in the flatlands.  The elementary schools in the hills were small - serving between 250 and 350 students. Schools in the flatlands were large and overcrowded - serving as many as 1450 students in facilities designed for 750. Between 1999 and 2011, the small schools changed this picture dramatically. Today, 28 OUSD schools have API scores above 800 - many of them serve low-income students of color in the flatlands. 

The newly minted academic success of many of Oakland's children is due in large part to the community ownership, which started, drove and sustained the successes. The key to transformation for these schools and the district was in four key autonomies they won.  Each school now had decision-making authority over instructional programs, budget, staffing and schedules at the school site level, and accountability for student outcomes. Where site level autonomies are effectively implemented, schools are producing significant improvements in student outcomes.  

In 1999, the only political leverage parents had in the face of opposition to this proven model of success was charter formation.  We are at a similar crossroads right now.
The District's strategic plan embraces many of the values of the small community schools movement, but rather than building on them they are eroding them.   The successful formula of site based decision-making that produced ownership and gains, is eroding in favor of more centralized planning.

We agree that OUSD needs to address under-enrollment, dropout rates and the excessive number of schools in the District.  However, it is essential to incorporate local decision-making authority around budget, staffing, program and schedule in this transformation process.   Failure to do so will create a crisis of faith causing more families to choose charter and leave the district - deepening our financial crisis.

We call on the district board and staff and unions to recognize the power of the gains that have been made over the past 10 years -- the role of community voice and local school autonomies. We call on them to extend those conditions to all Oakland schools. Now is the time for the Board to set the stage, setting policies that will inform the future of the district and fulfill the promise for every child in Oakland to succeed.

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