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Reading List: Oakland Unified Schools District Vision and accountability

** Statham, Kimberly A (Spring 2007). OUSD: Expect Success: Making Education Work for Every Oakland Student. Not available online.

 

This report describes the goals, strategies, and accomplishments of OUSD’s strategic initiative Expect Success, adopted in 2005. The purpose of the initiative is to raise expectations for all Oakland schools and students and to ensure they have the support they need to achieve their goals. The initiative rests on six main strategies: a) create two organizations within the district, one focused on the educational side and another to provide support to schools to reach their academic goals; b) empower schools with more flexibility and an increasing share of funding; c) create small, personalized learning communities; d) provide at least two quality school options in every neighborhood; e) support skills and talents of employees and hold them accountable for meeting high standards; f) invest in technology and build small business practices where the schools are the costumers and the district is the provider to improve efficiency and increase standards.

 

** Annual Report 2007 Oakland Unified School District. Expect Success. Every Student, every classroom, every day. Available at http://boe-webextender.ousd.k12.ca.us/attachments/9296.pdf

 

This annual report provides demographic and performance information about the students, staff and schools in OUSD, including progress on the API and percentage of graduates who had completed all courses required for UC and/or CSU entrance . Also presented are the results of surveys on the how the district is doing in having high expectations at the school level, as well as on growth in different areas, such as feeling safe at school and cleanliness of school building. The report also provides data on district finances and on resource allocation to schools. Finally, the report documents the increase of the college ready culture in the district and the importance of other programs that support this culture, such as the Early Childhood Learning Program and the Lifelong Learning Program.

 

Oakland Unified School District Organizational Chart. Not available online.

 

** OUSD. Certified Professional Development Principles and Plan Overview 2006-2011. Not available online.

 

This overview of the professional development plan describes the strategic approach the district has for professional development, the guiding principles that sustain this approach, the plan for leadership development, the role of the central office in supporting the schools, and the monitoring and evaluation process to be implemented with it.