Originally aired on KQED Radio as a special broadcast March 29, 2012 from 8-10pm
Did you know that Oakland has one of the highest high school dropout rates in the state of California? As part of the American Graduate initiative, a Teacher Town Hall was recently held at Oakland’s Laney College. Moderated by Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington, its goal was to celebrate best practices and elevate teachers’ voices around the issue, listen now.
Education Report Blog
March 28th 2012
Written By Katy Murphy
The Oakland Education Association is holding a rally today to protest the district’s decision to have teachers at Castlemont, Fremont and McClymonds apply for a new, 11-month teaching position if they want to remain on those campuses. (In case I haven’t reminded you enough, the Tribune is holding a forum tomorrow on this very issue.)
Do you agree with the below assessment that the district’s plan is “the latest corporate-inspired flavor of the month,” rather than a real solution?
Forum American Graduate Special
We continue a special live broadcast from Oakland’s Castlemont High School on the dropout crisis in public schools. In this hour, we turn to policymakers and education reformers who have given this issue a lot of thought. Do they think the problem is only about schools? Or does it have more systemic causes? What are some proven, innovative approaches to help alleviate the problem?
Forum: American Graduate Radio Special
Nearly one-quarter of American high school students drop out before they graduate. In Oakland, the problem is even worse: more than 35 percent of high school students in the city don’t reach graduation. Dropouts are exposed to an uncertain future with higher rates of crime, poverty and health problems than their peers with diplomas. In a special live broadcast from Oakland’s Castlemont High School, we discuss the dropout challenge with educators and students. Listen and learn more about this debate.
Storify
March 13, 2012
Written by Ian Hill
That’s a question KQED is asking as part of the American Graduate, an innovative new program designed to combat the dropout crisis. This question was posted at Spotify before the event, follow these responses. Which one of these comments did you most agree with?
EdSpace Blog
March 14, 2012
Written by Matthew Green
On March 13, teachers, education advocates, and a number of students filled the theater at Laney College in Oakland to address the problem, ask important questions, and share thoughts on how best to tackle this ongoing crisis in American education. The forum was part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, an initiative spearheaded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), in partnership with America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Moderated by Snap Judgement host Glynn Washington, Tuesday’s event centered around a panel of seasoned Oakland educators who spoke passionately about the extent of the crisis from their unique perspectives. While specific opinions and suggested courses of action varied widely, all participants were united in their insistence that a whole generation of young people are being left behind, and that urgent change is desperately needed.
Learn about the overarching themes discussed that night.
New York Times
Written By Tamar Lewis
March 6, 2012
Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students, according to new data from the Department of Education.
Although black students made up only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35 percent of those suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions. Read more
KQED News Fix Blog
February 14, 2012
Written By Caitlin Esch
Last night, the Oakland Unified School District’s Special Committee on School-Based Management and Budgeting met with teachers, parents and union representatives to discuss turning over more control to local schools.
Many teachers and administrators want greater autonomy in areas like staffing, budgeting and curriculum, which they say is necessary to meet the needs of their unique schools. Committee chair David Kakishiba said the board has wanted to cede more control for years, and now that problems like transitioning from state receivership and balancing last year’s difficult budget are out of the way, the time is right to take the issue up.
Life Academy Principal Preston Thomas was one of about 50 people advocating greater independence at a pre-meeting press conference. Thomas said that in a system where teachers are pink-slipped based on seniority, parents and schools need to be involved in hiring.
” I think it’s really essential for our school community,” Thomas said. “That’s teachers, it’s students, it’s parents—to-be involved in that hiring process. So that we’re really making thoughtful decisions and bringing in people who are the right fit for our kids.”
President of the Oakland Education Association Betty Olson-Jones said she agrees with the idea of autonomy in curriculum and instruction, but she doesn’t want to see schools become “islands unto themselves.” Olson-Jones worries if school sites have too much of a say in the hiring process, more senior teachers with higher salaries will face discrimination. She said the whole discussion of autonomy is a “distraction,” and that the seniority issue is especially heated as schools close and veteran teachers are displaced.
“How is autonomy going to change the basic fact that there’s not enough money, not enough experienced leadership, and there’s no system in place for mentoring and supporting the teachers we do have? If everyone has their own scheduling and hiring, … what’s the role for the unified district? What’s the role for the union?”
Annie Hatch has taught tenth-grade English and history at Life Academy for the past two-and-a-half years. She was pink-slipped last year and expects to be let go again this year. She said she has confidence in her principal, and wants all budgeting and staffing decisions made at the school level, not the district.
“I love where I work, and I think I’m a perfect fit. To me, it’s indicative that the system is broken. When teachers like me and others get pink-slipped, it just seems like the system is broken.”
But first-grade teacher Marva McInnis, who works at EnCompass Academy in East Oakland, worries many schools aren’t ready for more responsibility.
“I would love to say that every site can govern itself, but that’s just not reality,” she said. “And some kids are going to fall through the cracks, because those sites haven’t focused on the needs of a specific subgroup. Now, I really believe in my particular administrator, and her ability to govern. But I’ve had ten principals over the course of my 18-year-career, and I would have to say that out of those ten… only one would I trust to govern a site.”
The committee will meet again in two weeks to revise the proposal. The full board is set to vote in April.
San Francisco Chronicle
January 24, 2012
Written by Chip Johnson
The Oakland Unified School District wants to end the practice of allowing senior teachers to cherry-pick their work assignments.
Under the current rules, teachers with the most seniority get first choice of schools and classrooms – it’s a practice that’s customary throughout the U.S. public school system.
But Oakland school district officials say the decades-old practice does not always result in the best matches of students, teachers and communities.
