Oakland Unified School District Case Study

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FIGURE 1: AWE SI SWUM MATH ASSESSMENT RESULTS, 2007-08 FIGURE 1: AWE ELA INTERIM ASSESSMENT COMPARISON, 2007-08 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 AWE Si Swun Math Assessment Results 2007-08 29 27 26 Tri 2 Tri 3 38 30 19 % Not Proficient % Proficient % Advanced 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 70 7 AWE ELA Interim Assessment Comparison 2007-08 51 18 43 40 38 29 IA 1 IA 2 Mid-Year IA 4 Interim Assessment % Below Benchmark % At/Above Benchmark Source (both figures): AWE internal document. The results do not add up to 100% because the graphs do not include the number of students who fell into the category of “approaching” or “partial” proficient, given that API scores will be based only on proficient or not proficient. Underlying AWE’s impressive academic trajectory is a development story that features initial struggle and conflict, followed by rebirth and success. Opened as then-superintendent Dennis Chaconas’s pilot small school, before the OUSD board officially passed the New Small Autonomous Schools district policy, AWE has a unique history in the district’s pantheon of small schools. In particular, AWE’s development shows that it is possible to improve a struggling school through strong leadership and a re-visioning process that, in this case, yielded a more coherent instructional program and a commitment to investing in quality teaching. Members of the East Oakland community consider AWE’s opening an important achievement for their neighborhood. In the late 1990’s, the community was unhealthy for families. According to an ACORN community leader, 9 the surrounding area “was in blight, it was referred to as dope haven, drug haven, or prostitution haven.” ACORN community leaders wanted to begin restoring their neighborhood, and identified a vacant site to begin the revitalization process. They initiated a door-knocking campaign to see what the community wanted on the site, and after numerous home visits and community meetings, it was agreed upon that site should house a new school. The group continued meeting with parents, culminating in a forum at Castlemont High School that drew school board members, the school district superintendent, City Parks and Recreation officials, and members of the Oakland City Council to determine the necessary steps for building a school on the vacant site. Approval was granted for the school, pending the passage of a bond measure for purchasing the property. After this bond measure was passed in 1999, the City Council used the process of eminent domain (the state’s right to take over private property for public 4 School Redesign Network at Stanford University
use) to garner additional property for the school. Securing the resources to build a school was an important achievement for community residents. As a school administrator commented, “This community has been historically underserved compared to the Fruitvale community. There are no open spaces or community centers here. It’s liquor stores and churches.” Generating the commitment and resources to build a new school in this part of East Oakland was a critical lever for developing the community’s resources. In addition to playing a key role in securing capital for the school, ACORN also played an instrumental role in the design of the school. ACORN members worked with staff members from the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) and met with teachers and administrators to decide school governance, curriculum, and community connections. Despite this advance work, the project was stalled until Dennis Chacones was hired as superintendent in 2000. Upon his hire, he agreed to work with the group to push the school forward. The group targeted September 2000 for the opening of the new school. The date was met with some resistance by the district, but amidst pressure from the community, Chacones visited the school site in the summer of 2000 and, according to one parent, “took off his suit, got in his jeans and tennis shoes, began working and opened the school in portables in September 2000.” Despite all the energy put into the founding of AWE, the first few years of operation were fraught with problems. The school was designated by Chacones as one of several schools piloting the Open Court elementary reading and literacy curriculum, but many teachers and community members were more interested in a focus on social justice. In practice, the competing visions resulted in the school effectively implementing neither the Open Court Reading (OCR) program nor a social justice program. According to one district leader, the school had difficulty implementing the Open Court curriculum because the school was given the curriculum and materials at the start of the school year without any professional development for teachers regarding its use. The school struggled implementing the social justice program because, according to one founding teacher, there was never a clear vision of what social justice looked like in practice in the classroom. Then teacher and now principal, Kimi Kean, reflected on the problems faced during the school’s first year: [There was] lots of turmoil and no coherent vision. Everyone wanted to lead the school in a different way. There were lots of conflicts and many people left at the beginning. We started K-5, and the fifth graders were kids that were underserved for 6 years. The kids were off the hook. In addition to being under-prepared to implement the Open Court curriculum or a social justice program, much of the incoherence was attributed the disagreements among staff and school leadership. The founding principal — who was selected by the superintendent and was new to the principalship as well as to the community — clashed with faculty over the direction of the school, and at the conclusion of AWE’s first year, it emerged as the lowest performing elementary school in the city. 10 According to one school official, “All the energy around change did not produce increases in achievement.” Insufficient professional development for teachers, combined with OUSD Case Study: ACORN Woodland Elementary 5
Page 1 and 2: Oakland Unified School District Cas
Page 4 and 5: Photo: Courtesy of ACORN Woodland E
Page 6 and 7: A Section One: AWE’s Academic Tra
Page 10 and 11: competing visions, created consider
Page 12 and 13: elentless attention to college read
Page 14 and 15: Instructional Program During its 8
Page 16 and 17: Student learning is assessed primar
Page 18 and 19: terms of the work and the shift fro
Page 20 and 21: her to focus more on instruction. I
Page 22 and 23: Coaches have facilitated many chang
Page 24 and 25: at approximately $100,000 per year
Page 26: 6. New Leaders for New Schools is a

Oakland Unified School District Case Study

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