QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCHOOL QUALITY REVIEW REPORT FOR

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 8000 Birch Street, Oakland, CA 94621 Oakland Unified School District Principal: Carol Johnson 2013-2014 Site Visit: March 25-27, 2014 School Quality Review Lead and Report Author Marie Roberts / Quality, Accountability & Analytics

School Quality Review (SQR) Team Members Darren Avent / Principal, Kaiser Elementary School Kathy Hatzke/ Principal, Emerson Elementary School Kenan Delgado / Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction Michael Ray / Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction Sandra Simmons / Family, Schools & Community Partnerships

QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS

CONTENTS OF THE REPORT

BACKGROUND TO OUSD’S SCHOOL QUALITY REVIEW WORK

PART 1: THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

PART 2: THE SCHOOL’S QUALITY OUTCOMES

PART 3: FINDINGS - NARRATIVE OF STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES

PART 4: FINDINGS - SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF RUBRIC RATINGS

PART 5: FINDINGS - FOCUS STANDARDS RATINGS CHART

PART 6: APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: DATA PROFILE

APPENDIX B: SCHOOL SELF-REFLECTION

APPENDIX C: RUBRICS FOR SCHOOL QUALITY FOCUS STANDARDS

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BACKGROUND TO OUSD’S SCHOOL QUALITY REVIEW WORK During 2010-2011, fourteen task forces were formed with representation from a variety of stakeholders ranging from students and parents, to teachers, administrators, and community partners throughout Oakland. The Quality Community Schools Development Task Force was formed to define and set out a work plan to move the community toward a common vision of quality in Oakland’s schools. The Quality Community Schools Development Task Force created a set of School Quality Standards, comprised of six Quality Indicators delineating sixty-one Quality Standards. This work incorporates findings from other task forces (Teaching Effectiveness, Effective Leadership, Full Service Community Schools, Experience and Achievement, and African American Male Achievement) that were also addressing elements of quality in schools. At the end of the year, the School Quality Standards and the School Quality Review (SQR) process were incorporated into the District Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the OUSD Board of Education in May 2011. The 2011-2012 was Year 1 of School Quality Review implementation. The goal of the Quality Community Schools Development office for year 1 was “to implement a successful pilot of 15 schools for School Quality Reviews across 3 regions in grades K-8.” In this “pilot” year, in addition to completing the 15 SQR reports, the emphasis was on design, capacity building, promoting district-wide awareness of the new process, and aligning it to District tools and systems. In 2013-2014, we will review 16 schools – 7 elementary, 3 middle and 6 high schools. The SQR Teams will focus on 19 of the 50, “high leverage” school quality standards and not every standard. High school reviews are designed to align with and support the high school WASC accreditation process. About this report: The following report provides a description of this school’s strengths and challenges in its development toward the school quality defined in the OUSD School Quality Standards. This report does not offer specific recommendations for further improvement or growth. A key goal of the School Quality Review is for schools to “see” what they do well and what needs improvement. It is the school community, in coordination with central supports that should identify what should be done next to improve the quality of services the school provides students and families. These next steps need to be carefully planned and prioritized by the various stakeholders of the school and incorporated into the Community Schools Strategic Site Plan (CSSSP).

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PART 1: THE SCHOOL CONTEXT Location/Neighborhood and Community Description/Description of School Facilities East Oakland PRIDE Elementary, located in the Arroyo Viejo neighborhood, sits back off of a large lot with its front doors facing 81st Avenue and the edge of Birch Street. Arroyo Viejo (Spanish for Old Creek) is an east Oakland neighborhood made up of single-family homes. The borders of the community include Bancroft Avenue to the north-east, 73rd Avenue to the north-west, International Boulevard to the south-west, and 85th Avenue to the south-east. A large green lawn grows between the school and high fencing, separating it from the street. The campus is completely fenced in. The back of the school meets the edge of the Arroyo Viejo Park, “one of the largest and most beautiful parks in Oakland,” featuring a lively creek, picnic areas, and a recreation center with community gardens, athletic fields, and tennis courts. PRIDE’s main school building is two stories high with jutting hallways. A large auditorium, a cafeteria, library, computer lab, school office, and most of the classrooms are on the first floor of the main building. There are a few offices and several classrooms on the second floor. Outside to the west is a large concrete playground with a play structure, a beautiful school garden, and ten portable buildings. The portables serve as classrooms, a staff meeting area, and a Family Resource Center. On the far west edge of the campus is a Child Development Center. On the east side of the campus is another set of portables used by the Lions Club, the school’s after-school program which is run by EBAC.

Student Demographics For this 2013 - 2014 school year, at the time of the March School Quality Review, approximately 463 students were enrolled at East Oakland PRIDE. This enrollment signifies an increase of 73 students over the past six years, averaging 12 students each year, with a high of 498 students in 2010-2011.  Sixty-six percent of East Oakland PRIDE students were Latino, which was a slightly lower percentage than the average over the last five years (70%).  African American students made up 27% of the school, a percentage which stands as a high over a six-year period.  Asian/Pacific Islander students comprised 3%, a percentage which has gradually increased from the 1% in 2008-2009.  There has been a steady decrease in the percentage of English Learners at the school over the last 5 years. In 2009-10, the percentage was 72%; this year it was 59%. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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School Leadership Carol Johnson, principal of East Oakland Pride, has served the children of Oakland for 23 years and 13 superintendents. After moving from the east coast with the Teach for America program, she became a teacher at Parker Elementary School. She later became a Teacher on Special Assignment at Parker, then a Math Lead and a Science Lead, creating equity by making math more accessible and integrating science into the classroom. According to Johnson, her vision has always been to improve curriculum for students, instruction for teachers, and communication systems for the parents and community. After 8 years at Parker, Johnson became a Literacy Coach working with Hillcrest and Glenview schools, a Program Manager for English Language Arts, and then a Coordinator for Reading First. With the Reading First Initiative, Johnson’s charge became the implementation of Open Court and “teaching teachers to teach reading.” She amassed a team of literacy coaches and designed the collaborative inquiry cycle which restructured the professional development model from her off-site to onsite professional development with a focus on data-driven collaborative planning. Her tenure as principal began at Santa Fe Elementary in 2005 where she raised California State Test scores from an API (Academic Performance Index) of 612 to a score of 723. The scores for African American students increased to 712 (a 60 point increase), the Latino students to 828, and the English Learners 795. When Santa Fe closed in 2011, Principal Johnson moved to PRIDE where she has remained since the 2011-2012 school year. In her first two years at PRIDE API scores increased by 18, and last year all API targets were met. Johnson said that one of her greatest inspirations has always been Marva Collins; she has re-read The Marva Collins Way – Returning to Excellence in Education many times. The assistant principal, Jacqueline Perl taught at PRIDE for three years and also served as the Teacher on Special assignment for one year before moving into her administrative role. Perl’s position was supported by New Leaders. The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) and the School Culture Team, comprised mostly of teachers, were two other leadership structures diversifying the leadership process at East Oakland PRIDE.

Teaching Staff At the time of the East Oakland PRIDE School Quality Review visit, the school had 11 regular K – 5 teachers, a replacement teacher, 5 bilingual (Spanish) K – 3 teachers, and 2 Special Education teachers. The average years of teaching experience was 5 years. About one third (6) of the 19 East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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teachers were in their first year of teaching at PRIDE, though one of them had 18 years of teaching experience before coming to PRIDE and another had 10. The East Oakland PRIDE staff also included the following: Position Administrative Assistant Assistant Attendance Clerk Resource Specialist Library Clerk Psychologist Computer Prep Teacher Hero Coach Nurse (2 days) Community Liaison Cafeteria Manager Music Teacher Speech Therapist PALS Counselor Custodians Teacher on Special Assignment School Security Officer 180 Mentor Noon Supervisor Resource Teacher

# 1 1 PT 2 (1.4) 1 1 1 1 1 PT 1 1 1 PT 1 PT 3 2 1 2 2 1 .5

Instructional Program East Oakland PRIDE offered a general education program which included bilingual education for kindergarten through third grade. The bilingual program exited students into English instruction at the end of the third grade. The school curriculum included Open Court, Envision Math, Harcourt Reflections, and FOSS (Full Option Science Sytem) for science. According to the School Self-Reflection (SSR), “In 2011, the Instructional Leadership Team developed an Instructional Framework, which included the instructional model of Caring School Community (CSC), Read-Think-Apply (RTA), Step-Up to Writing, Phonics Workshop, Magic Rime, Swun Math, and FOSS science.” The SSR also identified RALLI and SELD as strategies the school was implementing to address the needs of the English Learner population. In addition, Read Think Apply, CSC, and Swun Math were modified in 2012 to address the shift to Common Core standards. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recent “School Quality” Story According to the School Self-Reflection, “East Oakland PRIDE was established in 2007, during the time of creating new small schools in OUSD.” Webster Academy was split into three schools with PRIDE beginning as a K – 3, Webster maintaining the 4 -5 students, and Encompass opening with selected students from the old Webster population. PRIDE added fourth grade in 2008 – 2009 and fifth grade in 2009 – 2010. “Encompass eventually attained a new campus, and Webster merged into East Oakland PRIDE.” The school’s mission: At East Oakland PRIDE, we believe that intelligence is developed, nurtured, and learned. Our school is a place where students will be explicitly taught skills and intelligent habits and behaviors and are given opportunities to ponder, explore, and analyze in wide variety of contexts. All adults are child developers and are part of a learning community, working in concert to help students fulfill the vision of PRIDE. The school’s vision: At East Oakland PRIDE Elementary... We are PROUD! of our cultures, community and education. We are RESPECTFUL! of ourselves and others. We are INTELLIGENT! in our personal and academic choices. We are DETERMINED! to set and reach goals for ourselves. We are EMPOWERED! to make a difference in our community! In the seven years it has existed, East Oakland PRIDE has had two principals with Viet Ngyuen being the first, and Carol Johnson the second. Beginning with a 545 API score, PRIDE has increased in most years, gradually growing and resting in 2013 with a 668 high. The greatest growth occurred in 2009, with an 82 point increase. Between 2011 and 2013, the school API jumped twice, 10 points and then 8 consecutively. During the 2012 -- 2013 school year, the last year of API before the Common Core Standards implementation, the school increased in API and met all its CST targets. The School Self-Reflection said, the “school’s history is a story of struggle and resilience. The community is faced with the challenges that come with poverty, including crime, trauma and limited access to resources.” The school reported that all of the students received free breakfast and lunch. School staff reported incidents in front of the school including the killing of a neighborhood youth in January of 2012, and the robbery of a pregnant woman this year. There were also reports of multiple lockdowns occurring during the school year. In addition, the school reported that beyond the issues occurring in the community, staff transitions had East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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also impacted the ability to meet the academic needs of students. Most of the staff transitions occurred because of hiring consolidations, retirements, promotions, and personal moves. “Transitions not only impact the school infrastructure, in regards to weakening developing systems, but impact relationships across the school community; students in greatest need often lose teachers who serve as mentors or beacons of light in their darkest times and teacher morale weakens as a result of the constant in-and-out rotation of teachers.” Staff reported that in addition to the increase in community crime and the constant teacher turn-over, the number of district initiatives, especially with a new staff, had become overwhelming. “It is a weakness in your [district] leadership when you have 19 district initiatives and you cannot even address the death in front of the school with a staff facing secondary trauma.” Note: The principal was on-leave for three months during the first semester of the 2013 – 2014 school year.

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PART 2: THE SCHOOL’S QUALITY OUTCOMES Background to the School’s Balanced Scorecard: The School Balanced Scorecard provides data to support continuous school improvement efforts across school communities and the District’s central office. The indicators for 2013-14 represent areas of focus for the school year, and the 2012-13 School Balanced Scorecard shows baseline data for the past school year. The School Balanced Scorecard data helps to monitor progress toward achieving the vision of the District Strategic Plan. The Scorecard aspires to focus on and prioritize specific indicators, while respecting that other indicators not represented in the scorecard remain important. Progress on indicators within the Scorecard help in differentiating support to schools, as well as provide the public with important information about individual and collective school progress. The School Balanced Scorecard was developed to focus on a few of the goals and measures contained in the 2013-14 Goals for Schools. This 2013-14 Goals for Schools includes a larger a set of goals organized by the big 5 goal areas of the District Strategic Plan: 1) Safe, Healthy & Supportive Schools; 2) Prepared for Success in College & Careers; 3) High Quality & Effective Instruction; 4) Building the Full Service Community District; and 5) Accountable for Quality. Where possible, multiple years of data for each goal were examined for growth trends and absolute levels of achievement. A group of principals was consulted regarding the development and refinement of metrics used in the scorecard. Each goal was then assessed to ensure that it met the standard of being a S.M.A.R.T. goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebound). The professional learning calendar for the networks, led by Network Executive Officers and Directors of Instruction, were focused on the targets set forth in the Scorecard. These professional learning opportunities included specific protocols and facilitated cycles of inquiry to review and utilize data to inform the action planning related to Scorecard targets.

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Some of the six sections above have not yet began to be measured by Oakland Unified; therefore a “NO” next to a section does not signify that the school has not addressed this area.

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attendance and Chronic Absences: Typically, school systems focus on Average Daily Attendance (ADA) and truancy (unexcused absences). However, ADA can hide deceptively high rates of chronic absenteeism. Likewise, focusing only on truancy misses those students with excused absences who are missing too much school and whose learning and academic achievement are most likely to suffer. National and local research clearly shows that chronic absence marks a “tipping point” that has an impact on student learning and achievement, with both short-term and long-term consequences. A student is identified as chronically absent if he or she has missed 10% of school days for the year-to-date, or if a student has missed 18 or more school days in a 180-day school year. A school’s chronic absence rate is calculated by dividing the number of chronically absent students by the total school enrollment. The following is attendance and chronic absence information for East Oakland PRIDE Elementary:  East Oakland PRIDE attendance rate during the 2012-13 school year had an average daily attendance (ADA) rate of 94.46% which is lower than the district’s elementary school average of 95.59%.  In 2012-13, 68% of East Oakland PRIDE students attended at least 95% of school days. This is 2 percentage points lower than the 70% district percentage for all K - 5 students.  In 2012-13, 9% of East Oakland PRIDE students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of school days. This is equal to 9% chronic absence rate for all K 5 students in OUSD.  The attendance data for East Oakland PRIDE’s three largest student sub-groups, African American, Latino, and English Learner (EL) students, reflects a strong discrepancy among the three groups: o In 2012-13, 59% of East Oakland PRIDE’s African American students attended school at least 95% of school days; this is 9 percentage points lower than the school’s average. Also, 12% of East Oakland PRIDE’s African American students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of school days. This is 3 percentage points higher than the school’s average. o In 2012-2013, 74% of Latino students attended school at least 95% of school days; this is 6 percentage points higher than the school’s average for this category. Also, 6% of East Oakland PRIDE’s Latino students were chronically absence, meaning they missed more than 10% of school days. This is 3 percentage points lower than the school’s average. o In 2012-13, 74% of East Oakland PRIDE’s EL students attended school at least 95% of school days; this is 4 percentage points higher than the school’s average. Also, 6% of East Oakland PRIDE’s EL students were chronically absent, meaning they missed East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, & ANALYTICS _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

more than 10% of school days. This is 3 percentage points lower than the school’s average. Suspensions: The data presented in the scorecard under this category relates to out-of-school suspensions, not on-campus or office referrals that do not result in removing a student from school. The data for out-of-school suspensions are based on AERIES discipline records entered at the school site, which show an infraction reserved for out-of-school suspension under the California Department of Education discipline codes. Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) focuses on African American and Latino males in particular because they are suspended at a disproportionate rate than the other subgroups. In October 2012, OUSD voluntarily adopted an Office of Civil Rights Agreement to Resolve OUSD’s disproportionate school discipline of African American students. This agreement is also referred to as the “Voluntary Resolution Plan.” By entering into this agreement, OUSD is committing to the transformation of school cultures, in such a way that eliminates the disproportionate suspension and school discipline for African American students by the year 2017. Although the focus is on eliminating disproportionality in school discipline for African American students, OUSD wants to reduce suspension rates across the board, and keep all students in the classroom engaged in learning. The below information is specific to East Oakland PRIDE Elementary:  In 2012-13, 10.8% of students were suspended at East Oakland PRIDE. This is an almost 2.9% decrease from the previous year.  The 2012-13 suspension data for East Oakland PRIDE’s Latino and African American students reflects a deep disproportionality. The African American suspension rate was 7.9%, when they were 27% of the total student population. The Latino suspension rate was .9%, when they were 68% of the total student population. This disproportionality in the suspension data has existed for the last 3 years. (Note: The suspension rate for African-American students was 18.1 in 2011-12 and had been greatly decreased since.) Common Core Standards: The Oakland Unified School District, like all other districts across California, is now in the process of transitioning and implementing the Common Core State Standards. Full implementation of the new standards and aligned assessments is expected by 2014-15. The Common Core State Standards call upon students to demonstrate critical thinking, evidence-based writing, and the ability to solve complex problems and to read and understand East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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complex texts. Our district performance assessments in mathematics and writing are designed to give students exposure and practice in the kinds of assessments that measure mastery of Common Core standards of learning. These assessments are currently administered on paper. However, in the future, students will take them online. So part of transitioning to the Common Core State Standards means ensuring that all students are participating in Common Corealigned assessments, like the Math Performance Tasks, Science Writing Task (SWT), Performance Writing Task (PWT), and this year’s History Writing Task. These assessments were first introduced to the district in 2011-12 for math and in 2012-13 for the SWT and PWT, but participation has not yet become universal across all schools. That is the reason the school’s Scorecard has a goal of 100% participation in these tests for the 2013-2014 school year. Scholastic Reading Inventory: The Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) is a research-based reading assessment that measures reading comprehension using the Lexile Framework for Reading. The SRI was introduced district-wide in 2011-12 as a screening assessment of reading levels for all non-Special Day Class (SDC) students in grades 2-12. There are three administrations of the SRI annually -- at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Prior to adopting the SRI, OUSD had no system-wide assessment that measured the reading level of all of our students, or that measured individual growth in reading levels over time. The SRI provides critical information about reading, which is key to student success in every content area. The Scorecard therefore focuses on the percent of students making one or more years of lexile gains between the first and last administrations, with the expectation that every year of instruction should contribute to a student’s reading level by at least one year. Because this rate measures individual growth, it requires that all students take both the initial and end-of-year administration of the SRI. Therefore, the Scorecard also emphasizes 100% participation and a 10% increase in the percent of students making one or more years of lexile gains. Since East Oakland PRIDE had a baseline of 29.1% of the 19.1% of students, their set goal is for 29.1% of the students to gain 1 or more years of growth as measured by this test during the 2013-2014 school year.

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PART 3: FINDINGS - NARRATIVE OF STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES The School Quality Review team spent three days (March 25, 26, and 27, 2014) observing classrooms, school-wide activities, and various parts of the campus inside and outside the building. The team conducted a variety of interviews (individually and in groups) with students, parents, teachers, classified staff, administrators, and community partners. The team also reviewed the school documents, performance data, and budget. The following narrative presents the general conclusions by the School Quality Review Team of how East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School is developing toward the School Quality Standards. Each section of the Summary begins with a description of the specific focal standards for which the SQR Team gathered evidence and made its evaluation. The Team did not gather evidence on every School Quality Standard. The following narrative relies on specific language of each standard’s rubric and the developmental scale for the ratings. That scale is:

Undeveloped

There was little evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Beginning

There was some evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Developing

There was substantial evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Sustaining

Refining

There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review and improve these practices/conditions.

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Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students For Quality Indicator 1, the School Review Team investigated how a school is developing toward the quality described in 7 focus standards:  Standard 1: A quality school provides students with curriculum that is meaningful and challenging to them.  Standard 2: A quality school provides safe and nurturing learning environments.  Standard 4: A quality school uses instructional strategies that make learning active for students and provide them with different ways to learn.  Standard 7: A quality school ensures that students know what they're learning, why they're learning it and how it can be applied.  Standard 8: A quality school provides academic intervention and broader enrichment supports before, during, and after school.  Standard 10: A quality school provides and ensures equitable access to curriculum and courses that prepare all students for college.  Standard 11: A quality school has a college-going culture with staff and teachers who provide college preparedness resources. Standard 1.1: A quality school provides students with curriculum that is meaningful and challenging. (DEVELOPING) While looking at East Oakland PRIDE classrooms, the following conditions were observed that capture the presence of meaningful and challenging curriculum in classrooms (outlined in the rubrics in Appendix C).  In 78% of the observations conducted by the Team, learning built on students’ prior knowledge, skills, and experiences.  In 44% of the observations conducted by the Team, students applied learning to questions or problems connected to their interests, goals, experiences, and communities.  In 62% of the observations conducted by the Team, students communicated their thinking, supported by teacher/peers, using the language and reasoning of the discipline.  In 28% of the observations conducted by the Team, the curriculum reflected an academic push, from the teacher, to have all students progress far and attain high levels of mastery. Overall, the SQR Team found that East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School provided students with substantial curriculum that was meaningful and challenging. During the SQR observations, the Team found strong and consistent evidence that in most classes in the school, more than three-fourths, learning built on students’ prior knowledge, skills, and experiences. This included the teacher referring to a previous lesson or an East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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established classroom routine. For example, one teacher said, “….we have been working on multiplication, now, tell your partner what you know about an array.” Another teacher while discussing “pairs” asked students what they knew of that came in pairs. A student responded “I have six pairs of shoes.” In still another class, the teacher said, “We’re learning about dissent. Have you ever had an adult who said ‘just do it,’ and you felt you wanted to dissent?” There was substantial evidence that East Oakland PRIDE valued student expression as an important lever for developing thinking. In sixty-two percent of the observations conducted by the Team, students communicated their thinking, supported by teacher/peers, using the language and reasoning of the discipline. In most cases, the student “output” was expression of opinion/thinking/knowledge without “interacting” with the whole class or in pairs to evolve their understanding collaboratively. Often the “output” from students in structures such as Think Pair Share was used by teachers to check for surface understanding. In contrast to the strengths of the first two indicators of this standard, the Team found some evidence of students applying learning to questions or problems connected to their interests, goals, experiences, and communities. These experiences occurred in fewer than half of the observations conducted by the Team (44%). Also, in a little more than one-fourth of the observations conducted by the Team (28%), the curriculum reflected an academic push, from the teacher, to have all students progress far and attain high levels of mastery. In some cases student experiences were clearly connected to the learning. For example, in a morning meeting focused on bullying, students were asked to talk about their own experiences being bullied or bullying others. In some classes, students were able to share their experiences and interests through a pairing process. In one classroom, the teacher asked students to use description in their writing and gave them the opportunity to read examples aloud. One student said, “the loud rain sounded like thunder,” while another said, “to me, it sounded like gun fire.” In one classroom, the teacher engaged students with 80’s pop music. The Team wondered how additions to the curriculum that were clearly interests of the teacher were connected to the interests, experiences, and communities of the students. Overall, in the majority of the observations (57%), the lessons were teacher centered with little opportunity for students to make personal connections. In addition, as discussed in Standard 1.7, learning targets were explicitly discussed and/or posted in just over one-third of the observations, making it more difficult for students to make meaning or be challenged by the curriculum. Also, the school reported that the turnovers in staffing had impacted the consistency of best practices and systematic approaches to curriculum.

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Standard 1.2: A quality school provides safe and nurturing learning environments. (BEGINNING) While looking at East Oakland PRIDE’s classrooms, the following conditions were observed that captured the presence of safe and nurturing learning environments in classrooms (outlined in the rubrics in Appendix C).  In 56% of the observations conducted by the Team, students were safe and learned free from intimidation, bullying, and/or discrimination.  In 63% of the observations conducted by the Team, classroom routines and structures supported students to build positive relationships, so that they effectively work and learn together.  In 46% of the observations conducted by the Team, the classroom was an “accepting” environment in which the contributions, culture and language of each student is validated, valued, and respected.  In 34% of the observations conducted by the Team, all students managed their emotions to persist through difficult academic work.  In 59% of the observations conducted by the Team, the physical environment of the classroom was clean and organized to be safe and supportive of learning. The SQR Team found that East Oakland PRIDE was in the beginning stages of providing a safe and nurturing environment. There was some evidence that most students were safe and learned free from intimidation, bullying, and/or discrimination; classroom routines and structures supported students to build positive relationships; and the physical environment of classrooms were clean. During more than three-fifths (63%) of the observations, teachers had clear structures in place, used systems for transitions, and had a variety of effective directions which called students attention to tasks. Examples included: “Crisscross Applesauce,” moving students in sections (“Blue Group go. Red Group go.”), and using hand signals for response. In some classrooms, though inconsistent in implementation, teachers using Caring School Communities (CSC) held morning meetings which supported positive student/student and teacher/student relationships. In some of the classrooms implementing CSC, special attention was paid to concepts such as “unity” or habits such as saying “good morning” to classmates and using positive language (i.e. excellent, good choice, etc.). Also, agendas and rules were posted in most classrooms. The rules posted were different in every classroom, reflecting the teacher’s stipulations, but not necessarily the school’s regulations.

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In almost three-fifths of the observations conducted by the Team, the physical environment of the classroom was clean and organized to be safe and supportive of learning. Some classrooms were cluttered and dark, including large amounts of things on the wall without a clear purpose for the all the hangings. The classroom was an “accepting” environment in which the contributions, culture and language of each student was validated, valued, and respected, in less than half (46%) of the observations. The Team observed students being unkind to students and teachers using harsh, punitive language with students during classroom observations. For example, a student asked a teacher if he could go and play. She responded, “I know you owe me the whole week without play, because you weren’t safe, so no. We didn’t suspend you.” In another classroom, students were hitting each other and the teacher did not intervene. The Team observed incidents in which teachers raised their voices, slammed their hands down on student desks to get their attention, and drank coffee and searched in their purse during class disruptions. In yet another class, a staff member working with students doing math asked, “Are you serious you don’t know, loudly in front of the class, when an upper grade student told her he did not know how to make 13 cents with coins. She then said aloud, “That’s because you did not take your medicine.” Thirty-four percent of students managed their emotions to persist through difficult academic work. The Team noted that in most observations, the work did not appear difficult. In addition, the Team wondered if the difficulty in managing emotions was related to the fact that teachers did not clearly define engaging and rigorous objectives.

Standard 1.4: A quality school uses instructional strategies that make learning active for students and provide them with different ways to learn. (BEGINNING) While looking at East Oakland Pride’s classrooms, the following conditions were observed that capture the presence of instructional strategies that make learning active and provide students with different ways to learn (outlined in the rubrics in Appendix C).  In 50% of the observations conducted by the Team, students actively “worked”—reasoning, reading, writing, and/or speaking the language of the discipline.  In 34% of the observations conducted by the Team, students “worked” together in the discipline, and their collaboration facilitated deep learning.  In 47% of the observations conducted by the Team, students learned using various learning modalities and/or multiple intelligences.

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In 59% of the observations conducted by the Team, students used language support scaffolds (sentence frames, multiple choice oral responses, diagrams and other representations) to engage in learning. In 25% of the observations conducted by the Team, students developed questions, posed problems, made connections, reflected on multiple perspectives, and/or actively constructed knowledge. In 28% of the observations conducted by the Team, students explained and revised their thinking and built on and evaluated the thinking of others. In 28% of the observations conducted by the Team, the pacing of learning reflected an academic push to have all students complete learning activities and reach expected high levels of mastery (i.e., reflected that “every minute was used well”). In 30% of the observations conducted by the Team, various technologies were used to make learning active and to meet the learning needs of students.

The SQR Team found some evidence that East Oakland PRIDE was using instructional strategies that made learning active for students, provided them with different ways of learning, and responded to their different learning needs. The strengths in this standard were evident in two areas: support scaffolds and active working. In almost three-fifths of the observations conducted by the Team, students used language support scaffolds (sentence frames, multiple choice oral responses, diagrams and other representations) to engage in learning. The Team observed teachers using sound cards, posters, diagrams and language patterns to support specific academic tasks, such as “I agree with __________ because_________” to support an academic discussion. In half of the observations conducted by the Team, students actively “worked”—reasoning, reading, writing, and/or speaking the language of the discipline, yet even in these classrooms, this was not done for the majority of the class time. Evidence of students actively working included students reading aloud in pairs, writing in journals, supporting answers with evidence from the social studies text, creating extensive descriptions for their essays. However, in some classrooms student behavior derailed instruction completely, while in others, the teacher did all the “heavy lifting,” limiting students to brief moments of participation. Students “worked” together in the discipline, and their collaboration facilitated deep learning in slightly more than one-third of the observations conducted by the Team. There were not many cases where the reasoning was extended enough to develop a complex idea through academic discussions or writing. Most often, the student expression in collaboration stayed at a fairly surface level. In less than half of the observations conducted by the Team, students learned using various learning modalities and/or multiple intelligences. During these observations, paired conversation, direct instruction, and individual work provided some variety of learning East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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modalities for students. In addition, the Team observed teachers engaging students through the use of videos, visuals, music, and manipulates. In one-fourth of the observations conducted by the Team, students developed questions, posed problems, made connections, reflected on multiple perspectives, and/or actively constructed knowledge. In slightly over one-fourth of the observations conducted by the Team, students explained and revised their thinking and built on and evaluated the thinking of others. In slightly over one-fourth of the observations conducted by the Team, the pacing of learning reflected an academic push to have all students complete learning activities and reach expected high levels of mastery (i.e., reflected that “every minute was used well”). Objectives were often not rigorous or clearly stated, making it difficult to have an academic push. Even in classrooms where teachers were persistent about circulating and giving feedback, the feedback was often not connected to a strong learning goal and instead was “miscellaneous” help or was focused on behavior. In a little less than one-third of the observations conducted by the Team, various technologies were used to make learning active and to meet the learning needs of students. Many teachers used an Elmo, or computers for Accelerated Reader. However, in most classrooms, the use of the technology was not much more innovative than the equivalent of a white board or an overhead projector. There was a class management system “Class Dojo” which some teachers used on an iPad.

Standard 1.7: A quality school ensures that students know what they're learning, why they're learning it and how it can be applied. (UNDEVELOPED) During classroom observations, the SQR Team briefly talked to students about what they were learning and why. In 34% of the short interviews conducted by the SQR Team during classroom observations, the PRIDE students interviewed knew the learning objectives for the lesson. In 25% of the short interviews conducted by the SQR Team during classroom observations, students recognized the connection between the day’s learning and longer-term outcomes. For students to know what they are learning and why, a teacher must be explicit about it. The SQR Team looked for the explicit ways that teachers made the objective, goal, or target of learning clear to students. In 34% of the observations conducted by the Team, teachers posted and/or explicitly described the learning target. Teachers were often not clear or specific with students about what learning a specific activity was trying to promote. The SQR Team also looked for the explicit ways that East Oakland PRIDE teachers checked the understanding of students and thereby clarified what understanding they were looking for and what it looks like to know or perform “well.” In 28% of the classroom observations, the SQR Team found that students had East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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their learning checked with immediate feedback regarding their progress toward the day’s learning objectives.

Standard 1.8: A quality school provides academic intervention and broader enrichment supports before, during, and after school. (BEGINNING) The SQR Team found some evidence that the East Oakland PRIDE had classroom strategies and school-wide systems that identified which students were struggling and needed academic support. Teachers had individual data conferences with administration and identified students who had challenges. The SQR Team found some evidence that school-wide systems efficiently referred students to needed academic supports, monitored their effectiveness, and adjusted them. The School SelfReflection reported that “a school wide intervention tracker, SST and COST” identified students who were struggling and that the school gave “common assessments and reviewed the data periodically to identify students and groups who needed additional support.” Students were referred to COST for attendance, academic, and behavioral support; however, it was not clear that the supports were effective or monitored. Teachers reported that it would be helpful to know if students had gone through COST and how successful previous interventions had been. The SQR Team also found that there were some classroom and school-wide strategies—before, during, and after school—which provided academic supports. These included: language development strategies for all students 30 minutes each day; push-in tutorials provided by Americorp tutors; pullout services provided by Faith Network; and Special Education and resource services. However, the Team noted excessive time lost in transitioning the students from one class to the other during the language development 30-minute period. The Team wondered what assessments were being implemented to determine who this structure supported because of the loss of transitional time and the ELD strategies being implemented for all students including with the African-American students during this time. Teachers reported that additional supports needed to be put into place for students struggling academically or behaviorally. This was especially apparent when they discussed the “Reflection Room,” a detention room where disruptive students were sent during class and recess time. Teachers reported that “while it was helpful to have a place to send students so that instruction could continue, there needs to be more of an emphasis on providing counseling or other supports for these students so that they can be in the classroom.” The majority of requests for support that the team heard from staff were for behavioral reasons. Teachers were struggling with classroom management. There was little after-school intervention. According to the East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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principal, this year had been focused on Tier I and the staff was just beginning to focus on fixing Tier II. The Team did not find evidence of strategies and systems that identified which students were mastering targets and needed academic enrichment. Nor did the Team find evidence of classroom and school-wide strategies that provided a variety of academic enrichment opportunities for these students who were mastering targets. The SQR Team did not observe any specific in-class, pull-out, or “elective” enrichment opportunities during the day for these students. The after-school program did provide academic enrichment programming for students enrolled in its program. However, because the after-school program admission priorities did not focus on the “needs” of students mastering targets, their enrichment offerings could not specifically be considered strategies serving these students needs.

Standard 1.10: A quality school provides and ensures equitable access to curriculum and courses that prepare all students for college. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found substantial evidence that diverse groups of students were proportionally represented in the academic programs, and there were policies, programs, and practices that ensured that different groups of students received the support they needed to be successful (see Standard 8 above). The school had a bilingual program in place that supported English Language Learners through the third grade and then exited them into English-only instruction with daily language development support and teachers trained in RALLI and SELD strategies. However, as noted in 1.8, the Team wondered how the needs of the African American students were being met. The School Self-Reflection said, “African American students, as a sub-group, are not being served equitably. Cultural competence is needed and matters of equity for all students must be discussed and tackled as a school community.” The SQR Team found some evidence that these specific students were fully integrated into a challenging core curriculum with appropriately trained teachers. The SQR Team found some evidence that all teachers and staff in key gate-keeping roles (e.g., counselors) had received training about access and equity issues, and operated with clear guidelines for ensuring full access.

Standard 1.11: A quality school has a college-going culture with staff and teachers who provide college preparedness resources. (UNDEVELOPED) The SQR Team found little evidence that East Oakland PRIDE students connected how their learning in class prepared them for future college and/ or career opportunities. When asked why their learning was important, students did not connect it to college and/or career. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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Similarly, they did not report that their teachers explicitly talked about getting ready for college. During the observations conducted by the SQR Team, the Team observed few instances (2%) in which teachers were explicit that certain skills and dispositions (e.g., peer collaboration, study/organizational habits) particularly prepare students to be successful in college and careers. In addition, the Team observed little evidence of information or resources regarding college (posters, banners, A-G requirements, middle school connections), for students or their families. According to the School Self-Reflection, “There is little evidence that a variety of resources are used to help students and families understand college options and requirements. However, PALS provided skills development groups for 5th grade students to prepare for transition to middle school.

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Quality Indicator 2: Safe, Supportive & Healthy Learning Environment For Quality Indicator 2, the School Review Team investigated how a school is developing toward the quality described in 2 focus standards:  Standard 2: A quality school offers a coordinated and integrated system of academic and learning support services, provided by adults and youth.  Standard 6: A quality school creates an inclusive, welcoming and caring community, fostering communication that values individual/cultural differences. Standard 2.2: A quality school offers a coordinated and integrated system of academic and learning support services, provided by adults and youth. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found evidence that East Oakland PRIDE had substantial systems in place to identify at-risk students and to intervene early, including the following health and socialemotional services:  Coordination of Services Team (COST)- The COST consisted of the school psychologist, the PALS mental health support staff, the Principal, the TSA, the resource specialists, SDC teachers and the Community Liaison. The team met twice a month to review students referred for both academic and behavioral needs. Students who scored “Far Below Basic” on the California Standards Tests (CST) were also referred to COST. Referrals were separated into three groups (academic, behavioral, or social). The school reported having so many Tier 2 referrals that they had to “shore up” the Tier 1 referrals so that there was less Tier 2 intervention needed. Thirty students had been referred to COST during the school year.  Student Success Team (SST) – When in-class and pull-out interventions did not work, students were referred to SSTs.  PALS –provided three counselors for behavioral or emotional issues and provided skills development groups for 5th grade students to prepare for transition to middle school.  School Garden – Provided and maintained by parent and community volunteers, the garden was is incorporated into classes and garden/science projects.  Farmer’s Market – provided fresh fruits and vegetables to students and families at cost and was supported the fruit/vegetable of the month in class. The school had the following services in place to provide a youth and community development component to help students acquire the attitudes, competencies, values, and social skills they needed to facilitate academic learning:  The Hero Program -- supported positive self-worth and decision–by proving training on decision making and leadership skills. The program trained 14 students per year to East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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 

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teach games, check out equipment, and solve problems on the yard. In addition they provided Physical Education 30 minutes a day once per week for every class and a mentoring program for several students. Brothers on the Rise – an off-site mentoring program for 8 male students. Student Recognition Assemblies -- and end of the month celebration, including four students per class being recognized for achievement and improvement in the value area being taught and reinforced. Postings with Student names and photos were displayed in the front hallway of the school. Morning Meetings – Each morning school was started with a meeting led by the Principal. The meeting included welcoming classmates, teachers, and parents, reciting the school mantra, positive affirmations, recognizing birthdays, and celebrating achievement.

In addition, East Oakland Pride had the following academic services and partnerships in place that responded to student/family needs: 

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    

One teacher on each PLC team was paid to do some after-school academic intervention. “This year it was with the far below basic kids.” Teachers were compensated for two hours per week to do tutoring. A school volunteer pulled students out for intervention for lowest students in the upper grades, for example, targeted reading instruction with about 8 fourth and fifth grade and some first grade students. Community Liaison – supported parents in the Family Resource Center and provided access to activities such as: fitness class, family potluck, arts and crafts and a place to meet and get information. There were recognition assemblies for achievement and improvement in academics. Faith Network Piedmont Church provides tutors for second and third graders. Read 180 – led by a community volunteer who spent 3 hours per week in 5th grade classes supporting reading skills. Americorp – pull-out tutoring. Lion’s Pride– the after-school program was run by EBAC (East Bay Agency for Children).

The SQR Team found little evidence that all services at PRIDE were coordinated efficiently and effectively to support student learning or that anyone person had information about all services and partnerships on campus. The “holder of the information” was often the person who had initiated the connection with the service or who interacted most often with an individual. Though some staff knew a lot about many services, most staff members knew a little about a East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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few of the services. Parents reported having little information about most of the services. In addition, the SQR Team found little evidence that health education was integrated into classrooms, programs, and services.

Standard 2.6: A quality school creates an inclusive, welcoming and caring community, fostering communication that values individual/cultural differences. (BEGINNING) The SQR Team found some evidence that procedures and practices supported new students and their families to quickly feel like members of the school community. The SQR team met with parents who reported that there was a strong, productive Family Resource Center on campus which supported families in a variety of ways, and a beautiful school garden that parents maintained. In addition, the parents reported that the Community Liaison was caring and welcoming and aided in communication at the school and translation. The Team found few school procedures in place for welcoming students. “I try to welcome new students and walk them to their line/class. We don’t have systematic ways to welcome new students,” reported a school leader. The SQR Team found some evidence that students and parents felt safe and free from threat, bullying, and/or discrimination. In interviews, students reported generally that they felt safe; students mentioned that there was a lot of fighting at school, but they felt safe inside the school. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that students and parents trusted staff. In the parent focus group, parents described having access to teachers and the Principal to discuss problems or issues, but expressed some issues with the school security and the Reflection Room (a room used for detention during the school day). Parents reported that their children were not always treated fairly or spoken to appropriately. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that students and their families were “known” by school staff. Students with acting-out behaviors who frequented the Reflection Room or acted out frequently on the playground seemed to be “known” by the school community per the parent focus group. In focus groups, teachers said students and behaviors were discussed often. Parents reported being concerned that students became “tagged” and teacher opinions followed students from class to class. There were several active parent volunteers in the school community, and they appeared “known” by the school staff. The Team also heard reports about safety from teachers who expressed fear and concern around student violence, school lockdowns, assaults in front of the school, and open gates. “There have been 3 or 4 lockdowns this year. The front door is open, the gate is open and anyone can walk in and any child can leave the school during the day, there is no monitoring, East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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security is inconsistent, and because of the physical location, the office is unable to monitor.” One teacher reported that “someone was shooting right behind the portables. We were going to the library and there was a shooting and we were locked out in the hallway.” “What I have seen is that there are about 15 to 20 kids that are always getting into violent or safety issues. There are a few kids that should have been expelled before because of things like hitting or attacking teachers. They know that nothing is going to happen now,” said a teacher in one focus group. And in response, a teacher in the same focus group said, “I have some of those kids, with expectations, they do not behave that way. I have had specific conversations with them and they acknowledge that they do those things because there are no expectations.” “This year a pregnant woman was assaulted right outside the school. It has been hard for some of our staff, especially the new ones. I think that despite being in a high crime neighborhood, I feel safe within the walls of my building. I have a sense that it will stay off campus—like we have an invisible shield, but I know everyone doesn’t feel that way,” said a staff member. When interviewed in focus groups, teachers reported that Caring School Community had been a structure at the school in previous years, but they “didn’t reinforce it this year.” The SQR Team found little evidence that structures and activities before/during/and after school created a safe and inclusive environment for students (main office, playground, hallways, cafeteria, etc.). The following were staff reports about safety structures and activities: “Morning drop off is tough—we start at 8:45, 8:50 and kids get dropped off as early as 7:45, no one is on supervision until 8, but teachers need time to prep. The School Security Officer (SSO) gets here early and takes kids to cafeteria but that doesn’t open until 8:15. The custodian and SSO are the only ones on the yard before school.” “We need to do better to support and welcome our teachers. The teachers who work at these types of school’s need to be supported. I don’t know what’s going to play out if we don’t stick around. I wish we would be welcomed and told that we really need you. There’s blame and judgment and scapegoating instead of finding ways to support teachers.” “I can’t say that I’m hugely clear about the discipline policy. We’re working to cut the suspensions down and office referrals down. We do have a Reflection Room. We used to be able to refer for anything, but we just got a form that tells us that Level 1 referrals should be handled by the teacher and Level 2 goes to the Reflection Room. We want to East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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continue the flow of the teaching, but some kids go right to Level 2. Now I can’t teach because before I could send them out.” The SQR Team found some evidence that staff, students, and their families intentionally built caring and supportive relationships across different individual and cultural “lines.” “We don’t do a lot of intentional work around getting to know each other—there has been a divide around black and brown families. There is a gap in terms of understanding the dominant cultures around here which are black and brown—gap between the staff and the students. We need to teach students resiliency and what it means to be resilient,” said a staff member. “Parent involvement is very unbalanced with our Black and Latino parents. Latino parents are more involved,” said another staff member. The SQR Team found some evidence that student interactions were characterized by caring communication. Academic conversation prompts were posted in most classrooms, including how to ask questions, disagree, and ask for more information. One teacher said, “With kids, there is still a lot of violence. Playing/play fighting and it goes too far. Kids misinterpret what is happening and then fight with each other because of rough play or lack of impulse control. We are still trying to teach kids to not fight and get an adult at school to help.” Another teacher reported that “in classrooms, some rooms feel a lot safer than others. In some classrooms there is a nasty culture—there’s name calling or kids doing things to others because the teacher doesn’t catch it.” The SQR Team found little evidence that procedures and practices supported students to resolve and heal conflicts and “restore justice” to the school community. There was no mention of restorative justice practices by students, faculty, staff or parents. Staff reported that there were no discipline policies or consequences in place to direct student behaviors. However, the Team noted a list of 6 school rules posted outside of the main office. According to one teacher, the posted rules were relatively new and were being reviewed with students in the classrooms during the week of the visit. The Team found strong and consistent evidence of PRIDE Paws given out for student improved or consistent reflected PRIDE values, and a monthly celebration for PRIDE Paws accumulated during the month.

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Quality Indicator 3: Learning Communities Focused on Continuous Improvement For Quality Indicator 3, the School Quality Review Team investigated how a school is developing toward the quality described in 2 focus standards:  Standard 1: A quality school makes sure that teachers work together in professional learning communities focused on student progress.  Standard 4: A quality school provides professional development that models effective practices, promotes teacher leadership, and supports teachers to continuously improve their classroom practice. Standard 3.1: A quality school makes sure that teachers work together in professional learning communities (PLC) focused on student progress. (BEGINNING) In reviewing the school’s PLC meeting schedule, the Team found some evidence that East Oakland PRIDE teachers met in PLCs at least once a month for collaborative planning and inquiry focused on student learning. The school’s schedule for PLC meetings reflected 90 minutes per week in which teachers were slotted to meet. In addition, it was reported that the school had changed its bell schedule, requiring students to begin classes at 8:50 a.m. so that PLCs could be conducted in the beginning of the day. However, during interviews and focus groups, the Team learned that PLCs did not happen consistently at all grade levels and that the groups seldom met in the allotted time before school. It was explained that “each team was expected to meet twice a week” and that “they usually met for 40 – 60 minutes each session.” Teachers reported conflicting experiences with PLC collaboration from meeting regularly to seldom meeting, and from accomplishing extensive lesson planning and curriculum development to “just trying to get books in the classroom.” Some teachers reported a concern that PLCs did not happen during contracted time. The SQR Team found some evidence of teacher groups using part of the PLC time to map curriculum backwards from high leverage, important learning goals/outcomes/standards; making collaborative curricular choices; and planning instruction and assessments. Some teachers reported that they had spent much of the PLC time reviewing the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Reading and planning instruction based on this. Teachers reported that “the most” successful use of PLC/collaboration was when the teachers participated in peer observations/lesson study. Teachers planned a lesson together and then they taught it and observed each other. After this, they made improvements and changes to the lesson and then another teacher taught the improved lesson and they debriefed it again. The SQR Team found little evidence that teachers in PLCs regularly looked at evidence of student learning (formative and summative assessment data or student work) to understand East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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students’ level of mastery of the learning objectives. The School Self-Reflection reported the implementation of “various forms of assessment including, BPST, DRA, SRI, math benchmarks, and ADEPT.” However, there was little evidence that teachers collaborated in PLCs around the data or that trends and patterns were identified to inform programmatic decisions or curricular choices. “It doesn’t seem that there is a culture for data yet,” said one school leader. However, the Team did hear that data conferences were held at the end of each benchmark with individual teachers in which data reports were created and discussed. The SQR Team found some evidence that teachers who met regularly in PLCs participated in sharing best practices, troubleshooting dilemmas, and planning re-teaching and extension activities. The SQR Team found little evidence that teachers took responsibility for creating and maintaining a quality PLC by participating fully, supporting a clear agenda, recording notes and decisions, and following-up with assigned tasks. “We ask that each group submits notes and we don’t always get them. We don’t follow up on them.” One group reported that there was teacher follow-through when an administrator came to watch the lesson, otherwise teachers were inconsistent with PLC meetings.

Standard 3.4: A quality school provides professional development (PD) that models effective practices, promotes teacher leadership, and supports teachers to continuously improve their classroom practice. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found some evidence that some professional learning activities were embedded in practice. There was a PD calendar with learning cycles for the 2013-2014 school year. Teachers reported feeling that there were too many district initiatives and they were not able to do them all well. The East Oakland PRIDE professional development included: No Nonsense Nurturer, Results: Academic Language Literacy Instruction (RALLI), Systematic English Language Development (SELD), Common Core, and ADEPT data analysis. Staff reported that there needed to be more experts or outside consultants to support the PD model. Many of them reported that they were learning the information themselves and were not comfortable with the information before being expected to present the material to their peers. In addition, the School Self-Reflection and teachers also identified “Math Number Talks, Reading and Writing Workshop, Academic Discourse, FOSS Science, Step-Up-to-Writing, Swun Math, DRA, Accelerated Reader, and Caring Community” as other areas of professional learning in which they participated. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that professional learning activities were useful to teacher practice with students, and modeled effective instructional strategies. Teachers reported participation in peer observations/lesson study. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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The SQR Team found little evidence that the professional learning activities were aligned to the vision and mission of the school as it was difficult to identify which vision the school was working towards. (See explanation of this in 5.4) However, the SQR Team found substantial evidence that professional learning activities were targeted towards and responsive to the current needs of students and teachers. Teachers reported that the development of grade level units, department pacing guides, and Common Core implementation were supportive and had high impact. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that professional learning activities were developmental and differentiated to meet the needs of all teachers at the school. Teachers were provided support/coaching during data conferences and PLC meetings. Newer teachers received coaching from Teacher on Special Assignment before and after school. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that professional learning activities promoted teacher leadership including PDs being run by teachers, PLC leads taking a role in guiding and shaping the structure and work of the PLCs, and PD being determined by the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). The SQR Team found some evidence that professional learning activities supported teachers to evaluate and improve their classroom practices.

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Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships For Quality Indicator 4, the School Review Team investigated how a school is developing toward the quality described in 3 focus standards:  Standard 2: A quality school shares decision-making with its students, their families, and the community, as part of working together in partnership.  Standard 5: A quality school works with students, their families, and the community, to know how the student is progressing and participating in school.  Standard 6: A quality school provides opportunities for families to understand what their child is learning; why they're learning it; what it looks like to perform well. Standard 4.2: A quality school creates the structures and mechanisms to work in partnership with students, families and community. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school had high-quality activities and strategies which built the capacity of students, families, and community to work together in partnership. The Team observed the school’s “Morning Meeting” in which students, staff, and families were welcomed to school each morning through celebration, song, PRIDE shout-outs, and announcements on the playground. In addition the school had a Pride Paw reward system in place, acknowledging “Scholars of the Month,” conducted a monthly recognition assembly, and posted “Perfect Attendance” recipient photos. The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school created structures and mechanisms to bring families of all racial, ethnic, socio-economic backgrounds which were representative of the student body as volunteers into the school. East Oakland Pride had parent volunteers in the classrooms and held fifth grade parent meetings. In addition, the school had a well-established Family Resource Center on campus with a Community Liaison in place to support it. The Family Resource Center offered services including, translation, monthly food giveaways, transportation, housing, Project 22 – for working off ticket debt, and emergency assistance information for families. Opportunities were available for parents to participate in the school garden, run the Farmer’s Market, assist in the school office, as well as attend exercise classes. The School Self-Reflection reported school-wide events including: three attendance and academic assemblies, an Annual Read Across America Day, a Halloween Parade, a Buddy Field Day, Back to School Night, Open House, a Multicultural Assembly, and multiple showcases put on by the after-school program, and other events that “promote community engagement in the school.” The SQR Team found some evidence that the school created structures and mechanisms which continuously engaged families, including those who are less involved to get their ideas, input, East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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and involvement. The Team heard reports of some staff members reaching out to parents who may not be involved in person and by telephone. The SQR Team found little evidence that student, family, and community groups (Coordination of Services Team, After School programs, community agencies, etc.), in partnership with the school, set clear and measurable goals that aligned with the school wide vision and goals. The school had developed/adopted and implemented standards of meaningful engagement (either school or district approved) to build effective student, family, and community partnerships, through the Title I meeting process. Students and their families participated in both mandated representative bodies (SSC, ELAC, etc.) and other collaborative structures and shared decision making around school programs, improvement plans, expected student outcomes, etc. The SSC chair was a parent and seven parents reported that they consistently participated on SSC.

Standard 4.5: A quality school works with students, their families, and the community, to know how the student is progressing and participating in school. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school had multiple high-quality activities and strategies which engaged students and their family in knowing how the student was progressing academically and engaging in the school community. According to the teacher and parent reports, the school had three rounds of parent teacher conferences for each report card during which teachers met with parents and students to discuss academic progress. In addition, the school held awards assemblies recognizing attendance and academic performance. The School Self-Reflection identified both student/teacher conferences and data assessment trackers as strategies the school used to let students and families know about academic progress. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that families and school staff had trusting relationships and engaged in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student progress. The Team observed Informal check-ins before and after school between teachers and family members, and reviewed evidence of family and holiday celebrations including monthly potlucks and birthday recognition. The SQR Team found some evidence that these activities and strategies were designed to minimize language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit students and their families’ full participation. The SQR Team found little evidence that the school had created and East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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implemented policies that encouraged all teachers to communicate frequently with families about student academic progress and student engagement in the school community.

Standard 4.6: A quality school provides opportunities for families to understand what their child is learning; why they're learning it; what it looks like to perform well. Note: In contrast to Standard 4.5, this Standard focuses on the ways the school engages families to understand what their child is learning; why they're learning it; what it looks like to perform well; how the learning connects to the school’s overall academic vision, and what the next steps educationally and developmentally will be.

(UNDEVELOPED) The SQR Team found little evidence that the school engaged with families, not only about how their child was progressing academically and socially, but about the what, why, and “so what” of the academic program. That included the overall academic vision and mission, what it looks like to do well academically and socially, and to map out toward what goals this quality of work is taking a student. During the parent focus group meeting, parents reported having little knowledge of and receiving little information about the Common Core implementation. The SQR Team found little evidence that there were strategies in place to help each student and their families overcome the language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit full understanding.

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Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management For Quality Indicator 5, the School Review Team investigated how a school is developing toward the quality described in 5 focus standards:  Standard 4: A quality school has leadership that ensures that the school’s shared vision is focused on student learning, grounded in high expectations for all.  Standard 5: A quality school has leadership that creates and sustains equitable conditions for learning and advocates for interrupting patterns of historical inequities.  Standard 6: A quality school has leadership that guides and supports the development of quality instruction across the school.  Standard 9: A quality school has leadership that collaboratively develops outcomes, monitors progress, and fosters a culture of accountability.  Standard 10: A quality school has leadership that develops systems and allocates resources in support of the school’s vision.

Standard 5.4: A quality school has leadership that ensures that the school’s shared vision is focused on student learning, grounded in high expectations for all. (BEGINNING) During the school’s design process in 2006, a vision was created for East Oakland PRIDE. The Team heard reports that the school had begun to revision. In the School Self-Reflection (SSR), the school identified two different vision statements. The first school vision was reported as the one “set forth by the community that dreamed of and designed East Oakland PRIDE,” the Core Values: Proud, Respectful, Intelligent, Determined, Empowered. However, according to Standard 5.4 in the SSR, “the vision for East Oakland Pride as written in the 2013-14 Community School Strategic Site Plan” was as follows: “All students will graduate from high school. As a result, they are caring, competent and critical thinkers, fully informed, engaged and contributing citizens and prepared to succeed in college and career.” In addition, staff reported that recently the school leaders had started developing new core values within the Culture Committee meetings and discussing a new vision during ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) meetings, although most staff members could not articulate these values and reported that they had not had input into the school vision. Most of the staff members could articulate the meaning behind the PRIDE acronym: Proud, Respect, Intelligent, Determined, and Empowered. The SQR Team found some evidence that the focus and intent behind the PRIDE acronym served as the school’s vision and was focused on student learning and high expectations for students. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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The SQR Team found some evidence that all aspects of the school’s programs and activities were guided by a unified understanding around PRIDE and that the staff was meeting to unify staff and community around one vision. The SQR Team found some evidence that the school’s leadership engaged all constituents in aligning their efforts to the vision through staff, School Site Council, and community meetings. Staff reported that the Culture Committee and the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) had been working on systems and structures that would support the school vision. The SQR Team found some evidence that all members of the school community were knowledgeable about and committed to the vision. Some members reported that they had no choices and that the ILT did not make decisions but was told what to decide by the principal. Others said that the ILT put in many hours and worked diligently to assist with the implementation of new structures and instructional leadership. The SQR Team found some evidence that the school leaders consistently acted on core beliefs which were reflected in the PRIDE acronym and acted as the school vision.

Standard 5.5: A quality school has leadership that creates and sustains equitable conditions for learning and advocates for interrupting patterns of historical inequities. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership consistently articulated the need to interrupt patterns of inequities. The school reported that in monthly SSC and PLC meetings they reviewed data including CST, CELDT, etc. There was strong and consistent evidence that the school had focused professional development on language development to address historical inequities. ADEPT, SELD, and RALLI practices were strategies implemented by school leadership to address language barriers. The Team heard reports about discussions around equity in ILT and Culture Committee meetings. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership guided the development and quality of services that supported all students to have equal access to learning (including academic, social-emotional, health, family well-being, adult attitudes, etc.). The school had a Family Resource Center on campus, and other services such as HEROs, Brothers on the Rise, and Faith Network. The school had also established a COST which met monthly. The SQR Team found some evidence that the school staff consistently engaged in practices that interrupted patterns of inequity specifically around English Language Development practices, but little evidence that there were practices in place that interrupted patterns of inequities with African-American students. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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The SQR Team found some evidence that the school staff collected and analyzed learning data by subgroup in order to monitor and adjust practices designed to interrupt patterns of inequity. There was evidence of teachers participating in data conferences with school leadership, but there was little evidence of how teachers used this information to monitor and adjust practices designed to interrupt patterns of inequity. The SQR Team found little evidence that the school staff had implemented programs to address specific subgroup needs based on their learning data. The SQR Team found little evidence that resources were used to meet the needs of all students equitably: staffing, technology, materials, space, etc. The SQR Team found some evidence that the school leadership fostered an ongoing dialogue among school and community constituents across race, class, age, and school and community to engage in bold change to achieve equitable school results during staff development, Instructional Leadership Team meetings, Culture Committee meetings, and in staff meetings. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership acted in concert with allies to systematically address inequities; help others navigate the system and remove or circumvent institutional barriers to student opportunity and achievement by training staff in ADEPT, SELD, and RALLI strategies, creating a COST, and engaging in partnerships with Brothers on the Rise and Faith Network.

Standard 5.6: A quality school has leadership that guides and supports the development of quality instruction across the school. (DEVELOPING) The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership ensured that there was adequate professional learning, coaching, and supervision to develop quality instruction across the school. The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) looked at school data and identified needed professional development. The ILT met twice a month to reflect upon what was effective and engaged in strategic planning including, data cycles, teacher observations, and teacher feedback. In addition, the Teacher on Special Assignment (TSA), provided assessment support, as well as coaching to new teachers and small groups of teachers. According to school leaders, teachers were also provided the opportunity to attend district offered developments in curriculum use and grade level content. Each content area (Math, ELA, Science, English Language Development, and Social Emotional Skills) had a faculty lead that attended monthly district trainings and presented at least three on-site trainings during the academic year. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership guided, monitored, and supported curricular choices and interventions based on expected student learning outcomes and the school’s core values through curriculum coaching, classroom observations, and lesson study. Staff reported that the TSA, with support from administrators, monitored student East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

38

learning outcomes; however there was little evidence of intervention. In addition, effective PLCs had Teacher Leads who monitored, guided and supported curriculum.

Standard 5.9: A quality school has leadership that collaboratively develops outcomes, monitors progress, and fosters a culture of accountability. (BEGINNING) The SQR Team found some evidence that the school staff had developed clear student outcomes and goals for learning and behavior. The Team heard reports of the Culture Committee creating a Code of Conduct Guide and saw the framework for it. The guide outlined levels of behavior and possible consequences. In addition, there were school rules, core values, and positive reinforcement expectations. However, the Team found little evidence of student outcomes for learning. Nor did the staff describe clear student outcomes and goals for learning. The SQR Team found little evidence that the school staff had developed clear professional expectations and goals for staff. The Team observed a lack of professional agreements about arriving on time, positive language with students, classroom management, and campus supervision. Teachers arrived late on campus, started recess and lunch early, and picked up students or opened classroom doors well after the bell. Teachers reported that not all staff attended PLC meetings or followed school procedures. The SQR Team found little evidence that the school staff followed clear processes and procedures to hold themselves accountable to one another and the goals and expectations. The SQR Team found little evidence that there was a culture of mutual accountability within the staff – staff members had difficult conversations with the intent of improving their collaboration and work with students and families. However, many of these difficult conversations were unproductive. The Team heard staff blaming parents, students, administration, and the district for outcomes, but little discussion of teacher accountability or impact.

Standard 5.10: A quality school has leadership that develops systems and allocates resources in support of the school’s vision. (SUSTAINING) The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school’s resources were allocated in service of the school’s core values. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school’s resources were maximized in service of the school’s core values --PRIDE. The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school leadership effectively leveraged East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

39

district and community resources, grants and partnerships in service of the school vision. The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school leadership effectively used the district’s budgeting systems (RBB, IFAS, etc.) to maximize use of state and federal funds in service of the school vision. The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the assignment and use of TSAs, coaches, etc. were appropriate, effective, and focused in service of the school vision. The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership sought out additional resources to meet identified student needs and aligned them to the school vision.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

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PART 4: FINDINGS - SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF RUBRIC RATINGS Focus Standard 1.1

Focus Standard Meaningful and Challenging Curriculum

Rubric Placement Developing

Summary Explanation of Ratings

 

1.2

Safe and Nurturing Learning Experiences

Beginning





 1.4

Active & Different Types of Learning

Beginning

 



1.7

Students Know What They are Learning, Why, and How it can be Applied

 Undeveloped



East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

In 78% of the observations conducted by the Team, learning built on students’ prior knowledge, skills, and experiences. In sixty-two percent of the observations conducted by the Team, students communicated their thinking, supported by teacher/peers, using the language and reasoning of the discipline. In some of the classrooms implementing CSC, special attention was paid to concepts such as “unity” or habits such as saying “good morning” to classmates and using positive language. In 46% of the observations conducted by the Team, the classroom was an “accepting” environment in which the contributions, culture and language of each student is validated, valued, and respected. In 34% of the observations conducted by the Team, all students managed their emotions to persist through difficult academic work. The strengths in this standard were evident in two areas: support scaffolds and active working. However, in some classrooms student behavior derailed instruction completely, while in others, the teacher did all the “heavy lifting,” limiting students to brief moments of participation. In slightly over one-fourth of the observations conducted by the Team, the pacing of learning reflected an academic push to have all students complete learning activities and reach expected high levels of mastery. Objectives were often not rigorous or clearly stated, making it difficult to have an academic push. In 34% of the observations conducted by the Team, teachers posted and/or explicitly described the learning target. In 34% of the interviews conducted by the SQR Team, the PRIDE students interviewed knew the learning objectives for the lesson.

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1.8

Academic Intervention & Enrichment Support

 The SQR Team also found that there were some classroom and school-wide Beginning



1.10



Equitable Access to Curriculum Developing

1.11

2.2

2.6

3.1

College-going Culture & Resources

Coordinated & Integrated System of Academic Learning Support Services



 Undeveloped

 Developing  

Inclusive, Welcoming & Caring Community

Beginning

Collaboration

Beginning

 

3.4

Professional Learning Activities

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

Developing



strategies—before, during, and after school—which provided academic supports. These included: language development strategies for all students 30 minutes each day; push-in tutorials provided by Americorp tutors; pullout services provided by Faith Network; and Special Education and resource services. The SQR Team found little evidence that all services at PRIDE were coordinated efficiently and effectively to support student learning or that anyone person had information about all services and partnerships on campus. The SQR Team found some evidence that these specific students were fully integrated into a challenging core curriculum with appropriately trained teachers. The School Self-Reflection said, “African American students, as a sub-group, are not being served equitably. Cultural competence is needed and matters of equity for all students must be discussed and tackled as a school community.” During the observations conducted by the SQR Team, the Team observed few instances (2%) in which teachers were explicit that certain skills and dispositions (e.g., peer collaboration, study/organizational habits) particularly prepare students to be successful in college and careers. The school had services in place to provide a youth and community development component. The SQR Team found evidence that East Oakland PRIDE had substantial systems in place to identify at-risk students and to intervene early. The SQR Team found little evidence that structures and activities before/during/and after school created a safe and inclusive environment for students (main office, playground, hallways, cafeteria, etc.). PLCs did not happen consistently at all grade levels and that the groups seldom met in the allotted time before school. The SQR Team found little evidence that teachers in PLCs regularly looked at evidence of student learning (formative and summative assessment data or student work) to understand students’ level of mastery of the learning objectives. There was substantial evidence that professional learning activities were targeted towards and responsive to the current needs of students and teachers.

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 The SQR Team found substantial evidence that professional learning activities

4.2

Working Together in Partnership

4.5

Student/Family Engagement on Student Progress

Developing

Family Engagement on Academic Expectations and Opportunities

Undeveloped

4.6

5.4

Vision Driven

Developing

 



Beginning

5.5

Focused on Equity

Developing

5.6

Supports the Development of Quality Instruction

Developing

Culture of Mutual Accountability

Beginning

Organizational Management

Developing

5.9

5.10

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014



were useful to teacher practice with students, and modeled effective instructional strategies. The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school had highquality activities and strategies which built the capacity of students, families, and community to work together in partnership. The school held Awards Assemblies to recognizing attendance and academic performance. The School Self-Reflection identified both student/teacher conferences and data assessment trackers as strategies the school used to let students and families know about academic progress. The SQR Team found little evidence that the school engaged with families, not only about how their child was progressing academically and socially, but about the what, why, and “so what” of the academic program.

 The focus and intent behind PRIDE acronym served as the school’s vision and was

focused on student learning and high expectations for students.  The SQR Team found some evidence that all aspects of the school’s programs and activities were guided by a unified understanding around PRIDE and that the staff was meeting to unify staff and community around one vision.  The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership consistently articulated the need to interrupt patterns of inequities.  The SQR Team found substantial evidence that the school leadership ensured

that there was adequate professional learning, coaching, and supervision to develop quality instruction across the school.  The Team found little evidence of student outcomes for learning. Nor did the staff describe clear student outcomes and goals for learning.  The Team observed a lack of professional agreements about arriving on time, positive language with students, classroom management, and supervision.  The SQR Team found strong and consistent evidence that the school’s resources were allocated in service of the school’s core values. 43

PART 5: FINDINGS - FOCUS STANDARDS RATINGS CHART Quality Indicator

Focus Standard

1 1 1 1

1.1 1.2 1.4 1.7

1 1 1

1.8 1.10 1.11

Focus Standard Meaningful and Challenging Curriculum Safe and Nurturing Learning Experiences Active & Different Types of Learning Students Know What They are Learning, Why, and How it can be Applied Academic Intervention & Enrichment Support

Rubric Rating

Undeveloped

Developing Beginning Beginning Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

X X X X

Beginning

X

Equitable Access to Curriculum College-going Culture & Resources

X Undeveloped

2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5

2.2 2.6 3.1 3.4 4.2 4.5 4.6 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.9 5.10

Coordinated & Integrated System of Academic Learning Support Services Inclusive, Welcoming & Caring Community Collaboration Professional Learning Activities Working Together in Partnership Student/Family Engagement on Student Progress Family Engagement on Academic Expectations and Opportunities

X Developed Beginning Beginning Developing Developing

X X

Developing Undeveloped

Vision Driven Focused on Equity Supports the Development of Quality Instruction

Beginning Developing

Culture of Mutual Accountability Organizational Management

Beginning Developing

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014

X X

X X X X

Developing

44

X X X

Sustaining

Refining

Appendix 1: DATA PROFILE

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 45

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 46

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 47

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 48

APPENDIX 2: SCHOOL SELF-REFLECTION

QUALITY ACCOUNTABILITY AND ANALYTICS

SCHOOL QUALITY REVIEW East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School Self-Reflection

2013-2014 School Year

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 49

1.

  

What is your school’s “story”? When you tell someone about your school, what do you say? How did your school come to be? What’s the “journey” your school has been on over the last several years? Where do you see your school headed?

East Oakland PRIDE was established in 2007 on the campus and in replacement of Webster Academy, during the time of creating new small schools in OUSD. It was designed and named by families, community members, and the founding principal, Viet Nguyen. The first year, three schools were on the Webster campus: East Oakland PRIDE K-3, WEBSTER 4-5, and Encompass. Encompass eventually attained a new campus, and Webster became EOP. Webster Academy has a long-standing history with the community, as one if the first elementary schools in Oakland. Many parents were also students at Webster School. Currently, East Oakland PRIDE Elementary serves approximately 457 students in grades K-5. 100% of our students receive free breakfast and lunch. Our student body is approximately 70% Latino, 26% African American, 2% Pacific Islander, 1% Asian and 1% White.

Our school’s history is a story of struggle and resilience. The community is faced with the challenges that come with poverty, including crime, trauma and limited access to resources. As a site and school community, we have struggled maintain consistent staff to meet the needs of our students . After the consolidation of Webster with EOP , the school witnessed an impressive spike in Academic Performance Index (API) in 2009 (the school grew from an API of 545 to 627), and has had very gradual growth in subsequent years. The current API is 668.

East Oakland PRIDE has been led by two school leaders in seven years. The founding principal, Viet Ngyuen, led the school from 2007-2011. The current principal, Carol Johnson has led the school from 2011 to the present day. Within the last few years, there is more of a focus on instituting structures for developing student literacy, teacher leaders, student safety nets in the RTI model, decreasing chronic absences, and creating a community schools model of parent leaders.

A great challenge is a high rate of teacher turn-over, requiring administration and lead teachers to support new teachers with transition. The transition not only impacts the school infrastructure, in regards to weakening developing systems, but impacts relationships across the school community; students in greatest need often lose teachers who serve as mentors or beacons of light in their darkest times and teacher morale weakens as a result of the constant in-and-out rotation of teachers.

The school is on a journey to develop expertise among teachers and staff about the CCSS, Social- Emotional Learning, Academic discussion, and writing; and being a safe zone for community resources, information, cooperation among its diverse constituents, and appreciation for the beautiful diversity that exists. 2.

 

What is your School Vision of a Quality School? How is that vision defined and shared with all staff, students, and families? Who are the people on campus who “hold” that vision?

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 50

We seek to maintain the vision set forth by the community that dreamed of and designed East Oakland PRIDE. The core values are:  Proud  Respectful  Intelligent  Determined  Empowered The ILT, School Culture Team, COST, and Family Resource Center hold the vision for the school, and work to infuse the values and goals within the tasks.

3.



What are your school’s current improvement initiatives? How and why was each initiative chosen?

In 2011, the Instructional Leadership Team developed an instructional framework, which included the instructional models of Caring School Community, Read-Think-Apply, Step-Up to Writing, Phonics Workshop, Magic Rime, Swun Math, and FOSS science. In 2012-13, RALLI and SELD were added to address the ELL needs. RTA, CSC, and Swun Math were modified to address the shift to the Common Core standards. The professional development model was designed to include instructional rounds with lead teachers observing peers, and using the data from rounds and assessments to drive professional development. With many new teachers and a history of hi turnover, professional development and leadership opportunities in the instructional methods and curricular frameworks are salient aspects of teacher development. We are currently working on accelerating reading growth through the Reading Workshop model (partnered with goal-setting conferences and progress tracking). The reading workshop model allows students to develop and grow in their reading proficiency at an individualized rate. Teachers confer with students regularly in order to support students with individual reading growth. Last year, 29.1% of our students made one year’s growth or more. As a result, we shifted our focus to increasing reading outcomes for students. We set “Big Goals” in reading, communicating that all students would grow at least one year in reading as measured by the SRI. We leveled our classroom libraries (and continue to do so) and set individual reading goals for students. We are just now beginning the work of conferring with students and pulling small groups around reading needs. As a result, 57% of our students are currently on track to make 1 years growth in reading as measured by SRI. We’ve also developed a focus on school culture and climate. We’ve developed a school culture team that meets twice monthly, focusing on 1) supplementing the Caring School Community curriculum in a manner that aligns with our core values 2) Developing positive incentive systems (award assemblies, spirit days, etc) and 3) Developing a Code of Conduct Handbook to guide the school community. In 2012-2013 the suspension rate was 7.9% for African American Students .09% for Latino students, which constituted a 50% decrease in suspensions. We had an inordinately high amount of office referrals and suspensions occur in the first trimester; there has been a 50% drop in office referrals in trimester 2 and formal suspensions have decreased by nearly 100%. We attribute this decline to better classroom management (due to coaching and the observation-feedback loop), follow-through on consequences & school-wide positive behavior incentives. 4) continuing to reduce chronic absences: there was a 5.5% reduction, from 13.5% to 8%, in East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 51

chronic absences in 2013. The attendance team and COST (FRC Coordinator and admin. are on both), have worked diligently to mitigate obstacles for families to get children to school, and to celebrate improvement.

4.

What are your school’s quality outcomes? Use the Data Profile provided by the SQR Office and any additional data you have to describe the overall strengths and challenges in the outcomes of your school.

 

How are students (overall and specific groups) achieving/progressing toward defined academic and social-emotional goals? Describe any patterns of achievement/progress that you are aware of? What do you believe accounts for these patterns?

Our school’s 2012-2013 API was 668. In English Language Arts, 23% of our student population was proficient or advanced as measured by the California Standards Test (CST). Only 13% of our African American population was proficient in ELA. In Math, 46% of our students were proficient or advanced as measured by the CST. It is important to note that although 46% of our population was proficient or advanced, only 35% of our African American students were proficient or advanced. As previously noted, we also have disproportionate disciplinary outcomes for African American students, particularly African American males. According to the most recent Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) administration, 14% of students in grades 2-5 are reading at grade-level.

When unpacking the aforementioned data, one can draw some of the following conclusions:  African American students, as a sub-group, are not being served equitably. Cultural competence is needed and matters of equity for all students must be discussed and tackled as a school community  Reading comprehension and writing instruction must be strengthened and become a core focus in professional development  Core phonics instruction must be monitored and small-group intervention must occur in order for students to have access to greater literacy demands, such as proficient reading and writing  Students have moderate mathematical fluency, but lack depth of understanding. Teachers are shifting instruction to common core practices to increase rigor of math instruction to ensure depth of knowledge, rather than simple, rote memorization of mathematical rules and procedures.

5.

 

Who are the people who work at your school? Identify all site staff and individuals/organizations from outside your school (central coaches, support providers, after-school program, part-time …). Beyond their titles, what responsibilities do these people have?

a) The afterschool program, Lions PRIDE, as program Monday through Friday kindergarten to fifth grade students. EBAC is the lead agency. b) Three Americorps instructors push into classrooms to tutor small groups and instruct classes during the after school program. c) EBAC also provides the PALS mental health counseling program, which provides 2.5 counselor a and an intern to lead groups and provide individual counseling. d) A nurse is on site Mondays and Tuesdays. e) 180 Degrees program mentors fifth grade classes on Wednesday, and Fridays. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 52

f) g) h) i) j) k)

HERO program provides physical fitness and mentoring for 3rd and 4th grade boys. The Director of Instruction supports admin and the instructional coaching model. Faith Network Piedmont Church, provides tutors for second and third graders. School volunteer tutors fourth and fifth grade students twice a week. The school psychologist provides counseling, and coordinates he COST and SST process. Brothers on the Rise provide mentoring after school at the Arroyo Viejo Rec. center.

6. What are the fiscal or in-kind resources the school uses beyond those resources presented in the IFAS financial system (parent funds; grants; etc.)?  What are these resources used for?

This year, the school has received a grant from the Core a Waiver that will provide classroom libraries, Lucy Calkins units, professional development in classroom management and school culture, and PLC conference training for lead teachers.

As a Core Waiver Focus school, a STIP substitute has been provided to support behavioral modifications and to release teachers for professional development, data conferences, and assessments. The gardening and wellness committee is supported by the district gardening TSA. The school has a beautiful garden; farmers market; salad bar; veggie of the month program; green gloves recycling & composting; food share program; and is beginning Zen mindfulness workshops. These are run by parents and staff members voluntarily. Alameda Food bank provides food bags for families on the third Wednesday each month. 7. Assess Your School’s Development on the “focus” School Quality Standards In the School Quality Review, the Team will describe, based on the evidence gathered, how your school is developing on the following school quality standards. Please provide your own self-assessment of your school’s development on these standards. Use the rating descriptions below to guide your self-assessment:

Undeveloped

There is little evidence in our classrooms/school of the conditions described in the key elements of this standard.

Beginning

There is some evidence in our classrooms/school of the conditions described in the key elements of this standard.

Developing

There is substantial evidence in our classrooms/school of the conditions described in the key elements of this standard.

Sustaining

There is strong & consistent evidence in our classrooms/school of the conditions described in the key elements of this standard.

Refining

There is strong & consistent evidence in our classrooms/school of the conditions described in the key elements of this standard, and your school has implemented systems to review and improve these practices/conditions.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 53

Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard 1.1: A quality school provides students with curriculum that is meaningful and challenging to them. Key Elements: a. b. c. d.

Learning builds on students’ prior knowledge/ skills/ experiences. Students apply learning to questions or problems connected to their interests, goals, experiences, and communities. Students communicate their thinking, supported by teacher/peers, using the language and reasoning of the discipline. Curriculum reflects an academic push, from the teacher, to have all students progress far and attain high levels of mastery. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

Across the grade levels, our school consistently uses district-adopted curriculum (Open Court, EnVision, Harcourt Reflections, FOSS) that builds on students’ prior knowledge. Many teachers also supplement this curriculum with materials that are culturally relevant and/or relate to students’ interests. As a school we are actively focusing on supporting the development of students’ use of academic language in order to communicate their thinking using the language and reasoning of the discipline.

Standard 1.2: A quality school provides safe and nurturing learning environments. Key Elements: a. Students are safe and learn free from intimidation, bullying, and/or discrimination. b. Routines & structures support students to build positive relationships across different individual and cultural “lines”, so that they can effectively work and learn together. c. The classroom is an “accepting” environment in which the contributions, culture and language of each student is validated, valued, and respected. d. All students manage their emotions to persist through difficult academic work. e. The physical environment of the classroom is clean and organized to be safe and supportive of learning. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

In the individual classrooms, students are safe and learn free from intimidation, bullying, and/or discrimination. In addition, the physical environments of the classrooms are generally organized to be safe and supportive of learning. However, when outside of the classroom in other areas of the school such as the playground and cafeteria, many students feel intimidated. Routines and structures that support students to build positive relationships across individual and cultural lines include Caring School Communities routines such as class meetings and cross-age Buddies.

Standard 1.4: A quality school uses instructional strategies that make learning active for students and provide them with different ways to learn. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 54

Key Elements: a.

Students actively “work”—reasoning, reading, writing, and/or speaking the language of the discipline.

b. Students “work” together in the discipline, and their collaboration facilitate deep learning. c.

Students learn using various learning modalities and/or multiple intelligences.

d. Students use language support scaffolds (sentence frames, multiple choice oral responses, diagrams and other representations) to engage in learning. e.

Students develop questions, pose problems, make connections, reflect on multiple perspectives, and/or actively construct knowledge.

f.

Students explain and revise their thinking and build on and evaluate the thinking of others.

g.

The pacing of learning reflects an academic push to have all students complete learning activities and reach expected high levels of mastery. (“Every minute is used well.”)

h. Various technologies are used to make learning active and to meet the learning needs of students. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

The use of instructional strategies at East Oakland PRIDE such as RALLI, Swun math, and Systematic ELD aid in the development of active learning for students. Although many teachers at PRIDE actively engage in the use of these strategies, some are still in the process of being trained in these strategies. Those who have been trained are beginning to implement these strategies and in the process of developing and deepening their understanding in order to support students in becoming active learners.

Standard 1.7: A quality school ensures that students know what they're learning, why they're learning it and how it can be applied. Key Elements: a.

Students know the learning objectives for the lesson.

b. Students recognize the connection between today’s learning and long-term outcomes. c.

All students have their learning checked with immediate feedback regarding their progress toward the day’s learning objectives.

d. Students make “real world” connections about how their learning can be applied. e.

Students understand what it looks like to know or perform “well”.

f.

Students can accurately assess how close they are to mastering expected learning outcomes. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

Learning objectives are stated and posted in most classrooms. Many teachers work with students to create goals that connect the day’s learning to a more long term goal. Several academic curriculums used at the school work include making connections to previous knowledge and the real world (RALLI). It is unclear if students can accurately assess how close they are to mastering a skill without teacher support. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 55

Standard 1.8: A quality school provides academic intervention and broader enrichment supports before, during, and after school. Key Elements: a.

Classroom strategies and school-wide systems identify which students are struggling and need academic support and which students are mastering targets and need academic enrichment. b. Classroom strategies and school-wide systems identify specifically why students are struggling to reach expected learning targets. c. School-wide systems efficiently refer students to needed academic supports, monitor their effectiveness, and adjust— ensuring that students “get in and get out” as progress occurs. d. Patterns of shared student characteristics are considered when identifying student academic needs and providing supports. e. Classroom and school-wide strategies—before, during, and after school—provide a variety of:  “Universal” academic supports (e.g., classroom & on-line resources, teacher “office” hours, ASP homework help, advisory class);  “Targeted” academic supports (e.g., classroom push-in or pull-out homogeneous grouping, specific EL supports, ELD or intervention class, 504 accommodations, Saturday or summer programs);  “Intensive” academic supports (Small-group intervention class, assigned tutor or mentor, Special Ed IEP and class) f. Classroom and school-wide strategies—before, during, and after school—provide a variety of academic enrichment opportunities for identified students (e.g., “elective” or ASP academic content; leadership; technology; media). Undeveloped

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Developing

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Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

We have a school wide intervention tracker, SST and COST to identify students who are struggling. We also give common assessments and review the data periodically to identify students and groups who need additional support and what standards need to be readdressed. This system identifies students who need academic supports, and the intervention tracker can be used to monitor for effectiveness, though it could be used more effectively. There does not appear to be a school wide system for identifying students who are meeting learning targets and need enrichment. EOP uses classroom and school wide strategies to provide for students including targeted academic supports (push-in tutors,, ELD and AED, summer school and after school programs) as well as some intensive supports including special ed classroom and resource support for students with IEPS.

Standard 1.10: A quality school provides and ensures equitable access to curriculum and courses that prepare all students for college. Key Elements: a. Diverse groups of students are proportionally represented in the academic programs. b. The school offers academic interventions that identify and support specific learners who experience on-going discrimination or who are part of historically lower-achieving groups, which gives them access to challenging curriculum and enables them to achieve high standards. c. These specific students are fully integrated into a challenging core curriculum with appropriately trained teachers. d. All teachers and staff in key gate-keeping roles (e.g., counselors) have received training about access and equity issues, and operate with clear guidelines for ensuring full access. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 56

Diverse groups of students are represented throughout the school in all academic programs. Academic interventions are offered at EOP which support students from historically lower-achieving groups. These students are fully integrated into the core curriculum. It is unclear who is in a “gate-keeping” role and what training they have received. Test scores indicate that not all students are achieving at high standards.

Standard 1.11: A quality school has a college-going culture with staff and teachers who provide college preparedness resources. Key Elements: a. b. c. d. e.

Students connect how their learning in class prepares them for future college and/ or career opportunities. Teachers are explicit that certain skills and dispositions (e.g., peer collaboration, study/organizational habits) particularly prepare students to be successful in college and careers. School staff helps students develop concrete plans for the future and counsels them about college and career options. Students use a variety of resources to understand the importance of college, their college options, the entrance requirements, and the supports needed to complete college. Families use a variety of resources to understand the importance of college, their college options, the entrance requirements, and the supports needed to complete college. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

There is some evidence that students connect how their learning prepares them for the future, and that teachers are explicit about what skills will help them succeed. However, there is little evidence that a variety of resources are used to help students and families understand college options and requirements.

Quality Indicator 2: Safe, Supportive, & Healthy Learning Environments Standard 2.1: A quality school is a safe and healthy center of the community, open to community use before, during, and after the school day Key Elements: a. b. c. d. e.

The campus (inside and out) is well maintained and attractive. Adults and students contribute to keep the facilities this way. Safety procedures are in place and evident (emergency plan, supervision schedules, responses to safety concerns, custodial schedules, drills, etc.); they are known and followed by respective stakeholders. Mechanisms are in place to communicate about and manage district/school staff/families/ community partners regarding emergencies/incidents affecting the site in a timely way. Systems are in place for community to access facilities before, during, and after the school day and to ensure space is taken care of. The school is utilized by parents, students and community before, during, and after the school day.

Undeveloped

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East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 57

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

a) East Oakland PRIDE is well maintained and attractive. We have a day time custodian who maintains and cleans facilities from 6am-2pm and two night custodians that continue the work after hours. Teachers, parents, and staff work to keep common areas clean, however our Staff Room has always been challenging to keep clean. We have made several efforts in the past to beautify the campus by planting more trees and building a school garden and raised planter boxes around the school. Our main challenges are the size of the campus and the student bathrooms. b) EOP successfully ran through a Lock Down, Fire, and Earthquake drill in October. We got positive feedback from the District Safety Team "Great job today! Please thank your staff for their quick response to the lockdown & earthquake drills and organized evacuation for fire drill." The only stakeholders that were unsure of the procedures were parent volunteers, and we are now in communication with them to let them know what they should do in case of an emergency. c) Mechanisms are in place between admin/afterschool director/parent liaison and the district police and fire department to ensure dealing with incidents in a timely manner. d) Systemizing the use of facilities before and after school is a challenge for EOP. Although the school is open starting at 6am, there is not supervision for students before school which has resulted in many conflicts. The use of facilities after school is **** e) The use of the school facilities before and after school has also presented a challenge for EOP. Other than the after school program, there are rarely school-wide events held before or after school. Parents and students are able to go to the cafeteria at 8:15am and school starts at 8:50am. However, students usually arrive starting at 7:45am, and do not have any activates or supervision until breakfast at 8:15am. There is supervision on the playground starting at 8:15am. Afterschool, the afterschool program maintains a strong program, we have the Farmer's Market every Tuesday, and there are many committee meetings. EOP's strength is in planning events during the day that include parents and community members such as exercise classes, cooking classes, Halloween parade, Read Across America Day, Health Fair, Buddies Day, etc.

Standard 2.2: A quality school offers a coordinated and integrated system of academic and learning support services, provided by adults and youth. Key Elements: a. b. c. d.

e. f.

A broad menu of on-site strategies, services and partnerships respond to student/family needs. Students are provided healthy food and health-focused physical activity. Health education is integrated into classrooms, programs, and services. The school has a youth development component (citizen/values programs, advisory, leadership class, student council, internships, etc.) to help students acquire the attitudes, competencies, values, and social skills they need to facilitate academic learning. Strategies and/or organizational structures (e.g., houses, academies, etc.) provide social supports for all students. Staff can modify these strategies/ structures to meet student needs. All services at the school are coordinated efficiently and effectively to support student learning.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 58

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

a) Our menu of on-site strategies, services and partnerships devoted to responding to student/family needs include our PALS counseling program, SST, COST, Afterschool Program Lion's Academy, Americorps academic push-in, our Parent Center services lead my Ms. Torres, our HERO P.E. Program, our 180 program for 4th and 5th graders, our SSC, ELAC, Farmer's Market, daily Salad bar in the cafeteria, Fitness Club for mothers, Monthly Cooking Demos, Nutrition Classes, Computer Lab, library. Our strength is in the amount of bodies and programs we have at our school, our challenge is finding enough teacher/parent/well trained leaders to manage them. Administration, teachers and parent leaders find themselves stretched thin between organizing and implementing all of these programs. We need to build leadership capacity within our parent leaders and teaching and certified staff. b) Healthy food and physical activity is something EOP has traditionally struggled with, however this year we have multiple programs in place to improve our health habits. We have a daily salad bar, and the Harvest of the Month program in which students get to taste test fruits and vegetables once a month and receive nutrition instruction. We have the HERO Physical Education program which includes 30 minutes of PE instruction every 2 weeks and organized games at recess (however the schedule for the 30 minutes of instruction has not been finalized nor implemented so students have not received PE instruction). As of Friday October 25, over ten teachers were trained in implementing 10 minutes of P.E. Training per day in their classrooms and given the resources to do so by the Oakland Wellness Physical Education initiative. We are hoping to develop a “EOP Wellness Policy” in which we explicitly ban certain foods from school. Our school garden also provides healthy fruits and vegetables for students. c) EOP has many programs that address health education. In classrooms, students get nutrition education from Harvest of the Month, and our Gardening Program which combines gardening practice instruction with Health instruction. For families we have cooking classes, Fitness Club, Farmer's Market, and Nutrition classes. d) EOP has a few youth development programs but they are only for upper grade students. The Young HERO program employs 4th and 5th graders to help the physical education coach manage materials and facilitate games on the playground, the Keep Oakland Beautiful program employs 4 th and 5th graders to pick up trash around school. This is an area of challenge/needed growth for EOP. e) EOP lacks a strong organizational structure for students. We are organized purely by grade levels. k1, 2-3, and 4-5 all have individual recesses. All schedules are made around grade level recesses and lunches. Staff are not modifying structures because they are non-existent. f) Coordinating our services effectively and efficiently is an area of struggle for us at EOP, however we are improving planning and communication by using a shared Google calendar, a shared google East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 59

drive, distributing information at staff-wide meetings, and relying on bodies such as the Instructional Leadership Team, the Parent Center, the Culture Team, to coordinate. Other bodies struggle to meet consistently meet and check in about procedures and planned events. The lack of PTA and parent leaders also contributes to the struggle to coordinate effectively and efficiently.

Standard 2.5: A quality school identifies at-risk students and intervenes early, to help students and their parents develop concrete plans for the future. Key Elements: a. b. c. d. e.

Systems are in place to identify which students are struggling and why they are struggling and to support their health/social emotional issues. Systems are in place to refer students to the supports that address their need(s) following the RTI model. Systems are in place to identify service gaps and seek resources to fill them. Teachers are part of these strategies/services and provide/work closely with these services to ensure student needs are met. Parents/families are engaged as partners with the school in supporting their students and know how their children are being supported. At-risk students receive the necessary support to ensure that they have access to college and career options. Undeveloped

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Developing

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Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

We have many structured systems in place to identify which students are struggling including the COST team and the SST team which includes our school psychologist, an administrator, the classroom teacher, a PALs counselor, and the parent. These two bodies problem-solve around what the student is struggling and then check in to take further action. The SST team and can refer to students to get assessed for special education services. The PALs program provides emotional and social support. It gives free weekly individual and group counseling to students of families that have medical. These three programs are a strength at EOP, but unfortunately we have so many struggling students that need support that our multiple programs cannot address all of them. We have a structured referral process that begins with COST. From COST students can get referred to various programs including PALs or SST. Within the SST meetings, students can be referred to get assessed for Special Education. Our RTI model is strength and our school psychologist and administration are thorough and consistent in the implementation of the programs. Identifying service gaps and seeking resources to solve them is a challenge for East Oakland PRIDE, especially when it comes to at-risk students that are struggling with behavior. Other than PALs, there are few programs in place to help students that are constantly misbehaving. In addition, new teachers who do not have strong classroom management skills struggle to work with poorly behaved students, but do not receive structured support. EOPs strength is in identifying students that are academically low and finding ways to address their academic struggles. We have Americorps push-in for academic intervention, and have received various trainings on how to provide academic intervention within the classroom. We could always benefit from more academic intervention, for example pull out reading groups (a few years ago our TSA East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 60

organized pull out reading groups). We just recently got a TSA hired, so she may implement a similar program. Teachers are a part of providing students services, but it is a constant challenge for teachers to address every one of their students' needs. We have two periods of parent-teachers conferences in which teachers individually evaluate and communicate student progress and needs to parents. Teachers also work with PALs counselors, parents, administration, and special education service providers to ensure student needs are met. Unfortunately with growing class sizes (many of our classrooms or at cap number or above cap), teachers are overwhelmed with student needs and cannot effectively address all of them. The lack of structures we have in place require the teacher take responsibility for a lot of the intervention and support for struggling students. Parent and family engagement is an area of struggle for EOP. We have about 15 very dedicated parent volunteers, lead by our Parent Liaison, but the rest of the parents/families are not engaged. The majority of parent volunteers are Latino, and the African American families are more alienated. Our strength in communicating with parents is during our parent teacher conferences, scheduled twice per year for 20 minutes with each parent. Also at the beginning of the year we have Back to School night to introduce parents to the expectations of EOP. Kindergarten always has a minimum week the first week to meet with parents and do diagnostic testing with kindergarteners. At risk students sometimes receive the support they need, but sometimes they fall through the cracks. Standard 2.6: A quality school is an inclusive, welcoming and caring community, fostering communication that values individual/cultural differences. Key Elements: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i.

Students and parents feel safe and free from threat, bullying, and/or discrimination. Students and parents trust staff. Students and their families are “known” by school staff. Procedures and practices support new students and their families to quickly feel like members of the school community. Staff, students, and their families intentionally build caring and supportive relationships across different individual and cultural “lines”. Interactions are characterized by caring communication. Procedures and practices support students to resolve and heal conflicts and “restore justice” to the school community. Structures and activities before/during/and after school create a safe and inclusive environment for students (main office, playground, hallways, cafeteria, etc.) The school has effective behavior management school-wide that creates a positive school climate (rewards, progressive discipline plan, celebrations to recognize improvement/ achievement, daily routines that reinforce culture of the school, etc.) Undeveloped

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Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

a. Safety is an issue at EOP. On the 2012-2013 Healthy kids survey, only 66% of student said they feel safe at school and 76% of parents said they felt the school was safe. There are constantly shootings outside the school, and last week a pregnant parent of a kindergartner was assaulted and robbed 500 feet away from the school. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 61

b. Students and parents are trusting of staff at EOP. This is a strength of our school. 71% of students said they feel teacher treat them fairly, and 88% of parents agreed. c. The staff of EOP is well-liked and well-known. We have a teacher board in the entry hallway that students are constantly looking at. Teachers come up and make announcements in our morning intake. Teachers smile and say hello in the hallway. Our Buddies program and Buddies Day over the last 3 years has helped students get to know teachers of different grade levels. d. EOP struggles to help new families get to know the school quickly. There is no procedure for welcoming a new student to the school, other than enrolling him/her and introducing him/her and the student's family to their new classroom teacher. It is the responsibility of the new student's parent to learn about the services available. e. The divide between the Latino families and African American families presents a huge challenge for East Oakland PRIDE. Our bilingual program segregates Latino families from African American families until the third grade, when the program ends. There are no structures or programs in place to address the fact that there is fear, stereotyping, and lack of understanding between the two major demographic groups at our school. While school-wide events help build culture between our students and families, there is no intentional school-wide events that address the lack of connection between Latino and African American students and families. f.

There has been success and challenges with this at EOP. We implemented the Caring School Community program about 5 years ago at our school, and this program includes teaching students to communicate using language. However students are often heard in the hallway yelling at each other, teasing each other, or being mean.

g.

There are not clear procedures in place for healing conflicts other than having a conference with the teacher, parent, or administrator. The teacher is expected to deal with a conflict within the classroom unless the student has exhibited egregious behavior. We have a standardized referral form that teachers can use, and the principal or vice-principal are supposed to talk to the student(s). However, one challenge is that there are a few students that are constantly getting sent to the office. These students often end up sitting with a security guard in the auditorium for prolonged amounts of time. There is no counseling or “restoring” of justice when the students are with the security guard; the students just sit or do class work.

h. There are clear expectations of what students should be doing once the morning bells rings at 8:50, but there are few structures in place for what students should do before school. Many conflicts arise before school because students are roaming the hallways, or playing unsupervised. EOP has successfully improved behavior during the day with our PRIDE Paw system: students are rewarded paws for good behavior and can use the paws at money at our Roar Store every two weeks. This positive incentive system has dramatically improved behavior in hallways and in the cafeteria. In the cafeteria, the procedure for eating and cleaning up is clear, but is not always consistently implemented, depending on who is in charge of cafeteria supervision. i.

Creating a positive climate with rewards and recognition is an area that EOP is currently working

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 62

very hard to improve. As mentioned above, the PRIDE Paw system has been successfully implemented. We have not had any assemblies yet this year, but last year we had multiple assemblies (each benchmark) to recognize students that were benchmark and above in Math and ELA. However, these award ceremonies were poorly implemented, and students and families felt bad if they did not receive an award. Daily we come together outside in the morning to do our East Oakland PRIDE cheer, which creates a sense of belonging and community.

Quality Indicator 3: Learning Communities Focused on Continuous Improvement Standard 3.1: A quality school makes sure that teachers work together in professional learning communities focused on student progress. Key Elements: a. b. c. d. e.

Most teachers meet in Professional Learning Communities at least once a month for collaborative planning and inquiry focused on student learning. Teachers use PLC time to map curriculum backwards from high leverage, important learning goals/outcomes/standards; collaboratively make curricular choices; and plan instruction and assessments. Teachers in PLCs regularly look at evidence of student learning (formative and summative assessment data or student work) to understand students’ level of mastery of the learning objectives. Based on this evidence of student learning, teachers in PLCs share best practices, trouble shoot dilemmas, and plan reteaching and extension activities. All teachers take responsibility for creating and maintaining a quality PLC by participating fully, supporting a clear agenda, recording notes and decisions, and following-up with assigned tasks. Undeveloped

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Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

On average, professional learning communities spend about 2-3 hours per week working in structured collaborative data analysis, lesson planning, and examination of student work with colleagues. The collaboration mostly occurs within grade level with administrators sitting-in at times, to give feedback. Beginning teachers have opportunities to work with more experienced teachers or mentors. The least type of collaborative activity is teachers observing each other in the classroom (peer observation) and providing feedback.

Standard 3.2: A quality school ensures that staff regularly analyzes multiple kinds of data about student performance and their experience of learning. Key Elements: a. Collect multiple kinds of data about student performance and their experience of learning. b. Use their data analysis to identify specific needs for re-teaching, intervention, and extension for individual students. c. Use their data analysis to identify trends and patterns among groups of students to inform programmatic decisions, personnel deployment, curricular choices, and instructional strategies. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard. East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 63

Assessment is frequent, integrated into the teaching/learning process, and informs instruction. Teachers participate in corrective instruction lesson planning with their grade level teams (professional learning communities), after administering various forms of assessment. These assessments include BPST, DRA, SRI, Math in Reading and Math, Writing and ADEPT. To collect patterns of data that can help teachers improve teaching practices, the school conducts walk-throughs and provide feedbacks during the debrief. In the past, the Instructional Leadership Team had conducted walk-throughs in Math, RALLI and Science.

Standard 3.4: A quality school provides professional development that models effective practices, promotes teacher leadership, and supports teachers to continuously improve their classroom practice. Key Elements: Professional Learning Activities at the school are: a. Embedded in practice. They are useful to teacher practice with students, and model effective instructional strategies. b. Aligned to the vision and mission of the school. c. Targeted towards and responsive to the current needs of students and teachers. d. Developmental and differentiated to meet the needs of all teachers at the school. Professional Learning Activities at the school: e. Promote teacher leadership. f. Support teachers to evaluate and improve their classroom practices. g. May include: Whole staff learning opportunities; individual or small group coaching; Supervision; Peer Coaching; Peer observations; Lesson study; Training in a specific item; PLCs; Participating in protocols such as “Looking at Student Work”, “Tuning”, Etc.; Study groups or book studies Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

In an ongoing effort to meet the needs of their students, teachers and staff participate in professional development workshops in multiple subject areas, which keep them abreast of current educational trends and research-based practices aligned with the common core standards. These professional development workshops include Math Number Talks, Results for Academic Language and Literary Instruction (RALLI), Reading and Writing Workshop, Academic Discourse, ELD, Science, ADEPT, Step-Upto-Writing, Swun Math, DRA, and Accelerated Reader.

Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/ Partnerships Standard 4.2: A quality school shares decision-making with its students, their families, and the community, as part of working together in partnership. Key Elements: a.

The school has high-quality activities and strategies which build the capacity of students, families, and community to work together in partnership.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 64

b. c. d.

The school creates structures and mechanisms to bring families of all racial, ethnic, socio-economic backgrounds which are representative of the student body as volunteers into the school. The school creates structures and mechanisms which continuously engage families, including those who are less involved to get their ideas, input, and involvement. Student, family, and community groups (Coordination of Services Team, After School programs, community agencies, etc.), in partnership with the school, set clear and measurable goals that are aligned with the school wide vision and goals. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 65

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 66

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 67

Standard 4.5: A quality school works with students, their families, and the community, to know how the student is progressing and participating in school. Key Elements: a. b. c. d.

The school has multiple high-quality activities and strategies which engage students and their family in knowing how the student is progressing academically and engaging in the school community. Families and school staff have trusting relationships and engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student progress. These activities and strategies are designed to minimize language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit students and their families’ full participation. The school has created and implemented policies that encourage all teachers to communicate frequently with families about student academic progress and student engagement in the school community. These policies are well communicated with staff and families. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 68

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 69

Standard 4.6: A quality school provides opportunities for families to understand what their child is learning; why they're learning it; what it looks like to perform well. Key Elements: a. The school engages with families, not only about how their child is progressing academically and socially, but about the what, why, and “so what” of the academic program. That includes the overall academic vision and mission, what it looks like to do well academically and socially, and to map out toward what goals this quality of work is taking a student. b. These strategies help each student and their families overcome the language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit full understanding. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 70

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 71

Standard 4.7: A quality school builds effective partnerships by using principles of student and family/community engagement. Key Elements: a.

The school has developed/adopted and implemented standards of meaningful engagement (either school or district approved) to build effective student, family, and community partnerships.

b.

The school sets goals and plans activities annually to bring students, families and community into the school and become authentic co-owners of the school and share responsibility for students’ learning.

c.

The school has programs and activities in place to support student engagement around events and decisions that affect them at school and in the community.

d.

The school has programs and activities in place to build student leadership and voice and teach children to become their own advocates in education. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 72

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 73

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 74

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management Standard 5.2: A quality school shares school improvement and decision-making with students and their families. Key Elements: 1.

Students and their families are involved, through various leadership structures, in monitoring results of school programs and creating/revising improvement plans.

2.

Students and their families participate in key school planning decisions in support of student outcomes.

3.

Students and their families provide input in hiring and evaluation processes.

4.

Students and their families participate in both mandated representative bodies (SSC, ELAC, etc.) and other collaborative structures. Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

School improvement and decision making is shared with students and their families in a number of ways: ● Classroom teachers are supported in the development and implementation of classroom communities. A successful classroom community and regular community meetings can serve as a forum for students to share concerns and participate in the establishment of classroom norm setting and decision making. ● School Site Council meetings offer a monthly forum for administrators, faculty, and community members to discuss school improvement and student achievement. ● The English Language Advisory Committee, once established, will council the SSC in regards to the needs of the English Language Learning population at EOP. ELAC makes recommendations regarding academic progress, attendance, and the school language census. ● During the 2013-14 school year, school newsletters have been regularly distributed in both English and Spanish. The newsletters contain information regarding upcoming meetings and events as well as attendance and academic successes. ● A School Messenger phone calling system is also utilized to inform parents of events at the school. The message machine makes calls in both Spanish and English. ● Parent-Teacher conferences occur twice a year when flexible instructional hours or available funding for extended contracts is available. ● Assemblies are another forum for the communication of academic data to parents, students, staff, and community members. During the 2012-13 school year, award ceremonies followed the conclusion of each district benchmark period. Data regarding student achievement is also presented during Back to School Night annually in the fall. The Fall 2013 Back to School Night held on September 5th, 2013, had approximately 68 families in attendance.

Standard 5.4: A quality school ensures that the school’s shared vision is focused on student learning, grounded in high expectations for all. Key Elements: a.

The school’s vision is focused on student learning and high expectations for all students.

b.

The school’s vision guides all aspects of the school’s programs and activities.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 75

c.

The school’s leadership engages all constituents in aligning their efforts to the vision.

d.

Members of the school community are knowledgeable about and committed to the vision.

e.

School leaders consistently act on core beliefs which reflect the vision and mission.

Undeveloped

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Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

The vision for East Oakland PRIDE as written in the 2013-14 Community School Strategic Site Plan, as reviewed and approved by the School Site Council states that: “All students will graduate from high-school. As a result, they are caring, competent and critical thinkers, fully informed, engaged and contributing citizens and prepare to succeed in college and career.”

Standard 5.5: A quality school creates and sustains equitable conditions for learning and advocates for interrupting patterns of inequities. Key Elements: 1.

The school leadership consistently articulates the need to interrupt patterns of inequities.

2.

School leadership guides the development and quality of services that support all students to have equal access to learning (including academic, social-emotional, health, family well-being, adult attitudes, etc).

3.

The school staff consistently engages in practices that interrupt patterns of inequity.

4.

The school staff frequently collects and analyzes learning data by subgroup in order to monitor and adjust practices designed to interrupt patterns of inequity.

5.

The school staff has implemented programs to address specific subgroup needs based on their learning data.

6.

Resources are used to meet the needs of all students equitably: staffing, technology, materials, space, etc.

7.

School leadership fosters an ongoing dialogue among school and community constituents across race, class, age, and school and community to engage in bold change to achieve equitable school results.

8.

Acts in concert with allies to systematically address inequities; help others navigate the system and remove or circumvent institutional barriers to student opportunity and achievement. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

This table displays the percent of students achieving proficient or advanced on state evaluated standards. 2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

English Language Arts

6%

22%

21%

24%

27%

Mathematics

33%

48%

34%

47%

42%

Science

0%

0%

33%

19%

34%

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 76

History-Social Science

0%

0%

19%

0%

0%

This table displays the percent of students, by group, achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards) for 2009-10. English-Language Arts

Mathematics

Science

14

18

18

Asian

*

*

Filipino

*

*

*

Hispanic or Latino

22

38

19

Pacific Islander

*

*

*

Male

18

35

16

Female

25

32

24

Economically Disadvantaged

22

34

20

English Learners

17

35

5

Students with Disabilities

3

9

*

African American

History-Social Science

American Indian or Alaska Native

White (not Hispanic)

Students Receiving Migrant Education Services

This table displays the percent of students, by group, achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards) for 2010-11 English- Language Arts Mathematics

Science

History- Social Science

All Students in the LEA

45%

46%

46%

32%

All Students at the School

24%

47%

19%

0%

Male

22%

50%

18%

0%

Female

26%

45%

19%

0%

Black or African American

27%

42%

18%

0%

Asian

0%

0%

0%

0%

Filipino

0%

0%

0%

0%

Hispanic or Latino

22%

49%

20%

0%

White

0%

0%

0%

0%

Two or More Races

0%

0%

0%

0%

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged

23%

47%

18%

0%

English Learners

17%

44%

6%

0%

Students with Disabilities

10%

21%

0%

0%

Students Receiving Migrant

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 77

Education Services

This table displays the percent of students, by group, achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards) for 2011-12 English- Language Arts Mathematics

Science

History- Social Science

All Students in the LEA

47%

46%

31%

32%

All Students at the School

27%

42%

34%

0%

Male

22%

41%

32%

0%

Female

31%

42%

36%

0%

Black or African American

21%

26%

58%

0%

Asian

0%

0%

0%

0%

Filipino

0%

0%

0%

0%

Hispanic or Latino

28%

47%

28%

0%

White

0%

0%

0%

0%

Two or More Races

0%

0%

0%

0%

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged

22%

39%

27%

0%

English Learners

17%

44%

6%

0%

Students with Disabilities

10%

21%

0%

0%

Students Receiving Migrant Education Services

Curriculum Area

Textbook year of Adoption

Reading/Language Arts

2000

Mathematics

2009

Science

2007

History-Social Science

2006 (Grades 4-5) 2007 (Grades K-3)

Standard 5.6: A quality school guides and supports the development of quality instruction across the school. Key Elements: a.

Guides, monitors, and supports curricular choices and interventions based on expected student learning outcomes and the school vision.

b.

Guides, monitors, and supports instructional practices that engage all students in high quality learning, are aligned with the school vision.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 78

c.

Ensures that there is adequate professional learning, coaching, and supervision to develop quality instruction across the school. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

According to OUSD SARC reports, in 2009-10, 16 of 21 classroom teachers held a full credential. In 2010-11, 17 of 21 teachers held completed credentials, and in the 2011-12, 22 teachers held Full Credentials. Leadership supports faculty development by hosting regular Wednesday staff development meetings. Topics include instructional development in all content areas as well as Social Emotional Learning skills. A copy of the EOP Professional Development calendar can be obtained by the school site administrators. Teachers are also provided the opportunity to attend district offered developments in curriculum use and grade level content content. Each content area (Math, ELA, Science, English Language Development, Social Emotional Skills) has a faculty lead who attends monthly district trainings and presents at least three on site trainings during the academic year. Progress is monitored through a variety of assessment data.

Standard 5.9: A quality school creates collaboratively develops outcomes, monitors progress, and fosters a culture of accountability. Key Elements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The school staff has developed clear student outcomes and goals for learning and behavior The school staff has developed clear professional expectations and goals for staff The school staff monitors students’ progress The school staff monitors staff expectations The school staff follows clear processes and procedures to hold themselves accountable to one another and the goals and expectations There is a culture of mutual accountability within the staff – staff members have productive difficult conversations that continually improve their collaboration and work with students and families. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

Through bimonthly ILT meetings, Peer Assisted Learning Community (PLC) weekly check-ins, monthly SSC meetings, and evaluations cycles, faculty at PRIDE collaboratively develop outcomes, monitor progress, and foster a culture of accountability. ● PLC meetings feature content area check-ins during which time grade level leads present and facilitate the analysis of Content area writing tasks, district designed Unit Tests, and other forms of assessment. ● Monthly SSC meetings present faculty and community members with most current data regarding CST, CELDT, and attendance.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 79

Standard 5.10: A quality school develops systems and allocates resources in support of the school’s vision. Key Elements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The school’s resources are allocated in service of the school vision The school’s resources are maximized in service of the vision The school leadership effectively leverages district and community resources, grants and partnerships in service of the school vision The school leadership effectively uses the district’s budgeting systems (RBB, IFAS, etc.) to maximize use of state and federal funds in service of the school vision The assignment and use of TSAs, coaches, etc. are appropriate, effective, and focused in service of the school vision The school leadership seeks out additional resources to meet identified student needs and aligned to the school vision. Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

(little evidence)

(some evidence)

(substantial evidence)

Sustaining (strong/consistent evidence)

Refining (strong/consistent, plus review)

Explain your rating by describing your school’s strengths and challenges on this standard.

Through the School Site Council, the uses for categorical funding are discussed and approved. See administrators of School Site Council leadership for information regarding budget expenditures.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School School Quality Review 2013-2014 80

APPENDIX 3: RUBRICS FOR SCHOOL QUALITY FOCUS STANDARDS Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students The Oakland Unified School District is committed to supporting high levels of learning for every student, ensuring that students are prepared for success in college, in their careers, and as citizens. Central to this commitment is the creation of quality learning experiences for all students. “Quality Learning Experiences for All Students” happen when every child is engaged and learns to high standards. The quality school makes sure that the school curriculum is challenging and connects to the needs, interests, and cultures of its students. It ensures that students learn in different ways inside and outside the classroom, including having opportunities to work with their peers, to investigate and challenge what they are taught, and to develop knowledge and skills that have value beyond the school. The quality school supports students to take risks and intervenes when they struggle. It inspires students to see how current learning helps them achieve future goals. In a quality school, each child’s learning is regularly assessed in different ways. This assessment information is used to plan their learning, to provide strategic support, and to empower the students and their families to manage their academic progress and prepare for various college and career opportunities. The following rubrics enable key school stakeholders to assess the development of a school toward the “quality learning experiences” standards, based on evidence from a range of sources. In addition, school leaders, central office personnel, and coaches will use these rubrics to design improvement strategies and support schools’ ongoing development. The unit of analysis for these rubrics is the school, not individuals within the school. These rubrics will not be used for the evaluation of school leaders, teachers, or other school personnel.

Undeveloped

There was little evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Beginning

There was some evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Developing

There was substantial evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard.

Sustaining Refining

There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review and improve these practices/conditions.

Definitions Learning experiences: Structured learning experiences found in the classroom during the day; in on-campus academic intervention and enrichment opportunities before, during, and after the school day; in mentoring, internship, and work-based learning opportunities organized by the school.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

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Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard Standard 1: Meaningful and Challenging Curriculum A quality school provides students with curriculum that is meaningful and challenging to them. Such curriculum is shaped by student input, targets their assessed learning needs, and takes advantage of their strengths and experiences. It educates them about their history and culture, and that of others. It shows how what is learned in school can help students to solve real problems in their lives.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning experiences that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Learning builds on students’ prior knowledge/ skills/ experiences. b. Students apply learning to questions or problems connected to their interests, goals, experiences, and communities. c. Students communicate their thinking, supported by teacher/peers, using the language and reasoning of the discipline. d. Curriculum reflects an academic push, from the teacher, to have all students progress far and attain high levels of mastery.

Refining There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these practices to ensure that all students experience meaningful and challenging curriculum across the day and across the campus.

82

Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard

Standard 2: Safe and Nurturing Learning Experiences** A quality school provides safe and nurturing learning environments where adults and students care for each other, feel trust, and have relationships that fully engage students in their learning and inspire them to work hard and push toward higher levels of achievement.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning experiences that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Students are safe and learn free from intimidation, bullying, and/or discrimination. b. Routines & structures support students to build positive relationships across different individual and cultural “lines”, so that they can effectively work and learn together. c. The classroom is an “accepting” environment in which the contributions, culture and language of each student is validated, valued, and respected. d. All students manage their emotions to persist through difficult academic work. e. The physical environment of the classroom is clean and organized to be safe and supportive of learning.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these conditions to ensure that all students experience safe and nurturing learning experiences across the day and across the campus.

**Note that this standard is focused on conditions in the classroom (or locations where the core activities of teaching and learning are happening). Broader, school-wide conditions of safety and nurture are addressed in Quality Indicator 2.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

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Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard

Standard 4: Active and Different Ways of Learning A quality school uses instructional strategies that make learning active for students, that provide them with different ways to learn, and that respond to their different learning needs (including language and literacy needs). Instruction is geared toward the construction of meaning, disciplined inquiry and the production of writing and problem-solving that has value beyond the school.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning experiences that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Students actively “work”—reasoning, reading, writing, and/or speaking the language of the discipline. b. Students “work” together in the discipline, and their collaboration facilitate deep learning. c. Students learn using various learning modalities and/or multiple intelligences. d. Students use language support scaffolds (sentence frames, multiple choice oral responses, diagrams and other representations) to engage in learning. e. Students develop questions, pose problems, make connections, reflect on multiple perspectives, and/or actively construct knowledge. f. Students explain and revise their thinking and build on and evaluate the thinking of others. g. The pacing of learning reflects an academic push to have all students complete learning activities and reach expected high levels of mastery. (“Every minute is used well.”) h. Various technologies are used to make learning active and to meet the learning needs of students.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these strategies to ensure that all students experience active and different ways of learning.

84

Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard

Standard 7: Students Know What They are Learning, Why, and How it can be Applied A quality school ensures that students know what they're learning, why they're learning it and how it can be applied. It ensures that students understand what it looks like to know, perform, and interact “well” (i.e. with quality). It makes sure that students play an active role in managing and shaping their learning and in developing an individualized learning plan for improvement.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning experiences that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Students know the learning objectives for the lesson. b. Students recognize the connection between today’s learning and long-term outcomes. c. All students have their learning checked with immediate feedback regarding their progress toward the day’s learning objectives. d. Students make “real world” connections about how their learning can be applied. e. Students understand what it looks like to know or perform “well”. f. Students can accurately assess how close they are to mastering expected learning outcomes.

Refining There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these strategies to ensure that all students know what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how that learning can be applied.

85

Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard

Standard 8: Academic Intervention and Enrichment Supports** A quality school provides resources and programs before, during, and after school that ensure that all students have the academic intervention and broader enrichment supports they need to be academically successful and engaged as a whole person.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence that the school provides: a. Classroom strategies and school-wide systems identify which students are struggling and need academic support and which students are mastering targets and need academic enrichment. b. Classroom strategies and school-wide systems identify specifically why students are struggling to reach expected learning targets. c. School-wide systems efficiently refer students to needed academic supports, monitor their effectiveness, and adjust—ensuring that students “get in and get out” as progress occurs. d. Patterns of shared student characteristics are considered when identifying student academic needs and providing supports. e. Classroom and school-wide strategies—before, during, and after school—provide a variety of:  “Universal” academic supports (e.g., classroom & on-line resources, teacher “office” hours, ASP homework help, advisory class);  “Targeted” academic supports (e.g., classroom push-in or pull-out homogeneous grouping, specific EL supports, ELD or intervention class, 504 accommodations, Saturday or summer programs);  “Intensive” academic supports (Small-group intervention class, assigned tutor or mentor, Special Ed IEP and class) f. Classroom and school-wide strategies—before, during, and after school—provide a variety of academic enrichment opportunities for identified students (e.g., “elective” or ASP academic content; leadership; technology; media).

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these supports to ensure that all students experience needed academic intervention and enrichment.

**This standard and rubric describe how a school provides a coordinated and integrated system of academic supports and enrichment that promote quality learning experiences for all students. In Quality Indicator 2, Standard 2, the standard and rubric describe how the school provides a coordinated and integrated system of other supports and enrichment—specifically health, safety, social-emotional, and youth development services—that are necessary to promote quality learning experiences for all students.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

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Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard Standard 10: Equitable Access to Curriculum A quality school provides curriculum and courses (including A-G and AP courses at the high school level) that prepare students for college, and it ensures equitable access to such curriculum and courses, for all students, through academic interventions that catch and support students to complete a college preparatory course work.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

Sustaining

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is strong and consistent evidence that the school provides the following: a. Diverse groups of students are proportionally represented in the academic programs. b. The school offers academic interventions that identify and support specific learners who experience on-going discrimination or who are part of historically lowerachieving groups, which gives them access to challenging curriculum and enables them to achieve high standards. c. These specific students are fully integrated into a challenging core curriculum with appropriately trained teachers. d. All teachers and staff in key gate-keeping roles (e.g., counselors) have received training about access and equity issues, and operate with clear guidelines for ensuring full access. e. All services at the school are coordinated efficiently and effectively to support student learning.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these supports to ensure that all students have equitable access to curriculum.

87

Quality Indicator 1: Quality Learning Experiences for All Students Standard

Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

Standard 11: College-going Culture and Resources A quality school has a collegegoing culture with staff and teachers who provide college preparedness resources to inform students and families about the importance of college, their college options, the entrance requirements, and the supports needed to successfully complete college.

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning experiences that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: f. Students connect how their learning in class prepares them for future college and/ or career opportunities. g. Teachers are explicit that certain skills and dispositions (e.g., peer collaboration, study/organizational habits) particularly prepare students to be successful in college and careers. h. School staff helps students develop concrete plans for the future and counsels them about college and career options. i. Students use a variety of resources to understand the importance of college, their college options, the entrance requirements, and the supports needed to complete college. j. Families use a variety of resources to understand the importance of college, their college options, the entrance requirements, and the supports needed to complete college.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems, including student input, to review evidence of these conditions to ensure that a college-going culture and resources are experienced by all students.

88

Quality Indicator 2: Safe, Supportive, & Healthy Learning Environments The Oakland Unified School District is committed to supporting high levels of learning for every student, ensuring that students are prepared for success in college, in their careers, and as citizens. Central to this commitment is the creation of learning environments that are safe, supportive, and healthy for all students. “Safe, Supportive, and Healthy Learning Environments” recognize that all members of the school community thrive when there is a broad, coordinated approach to identifying and meeting the needs of all members. The quality school is a safe, healthy center of its community. Its students, their families, the community, and school staff feel safe because school relationships, routines, and programs build respect, value individual and cultural differences, and restore justice—in the classrooms, hallways, and surrounding neighborhood. Its members are healthy and ready to learn, work, and parent because they have access to services—before, during, and after the school day—that address their academic, emotional, social, and physical needs. In such a quality school, the adults in the community coordinate their support so that students plan for and are prepared for future success. The following rubrics enable key school stakeholders to assess the development of a school toward the “Safe, Supportive, & Healthy Learning” standards, based on evidence from a range of sources. In addition, school leaders, central office personnel, and coaches will use these rubrics to design improvement strategies and support schools’ ongoing development. The unit of analysis for these rubrics is the school, not programs or individuals within the school. These rubrics will not be used for the evaluation of school leaders, teachers, or other school personnel.

Undeveloped Beginning Developing Sustaining Refining

There was little evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was some evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was substantial evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review evidence of these practices/conditions.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

89

Quality Indicator 2: Safe, Supportive, & Healthy Learning Environments Standard

Standard 2: Coordinated and Integrated System of Support Services A quality school has systems to identify at-risk students and to intervene early. The school provides 1) health and social-emotional services and 2) a youth and community development component to help students acquire the attitudes, competencies, values, and social skills they need to facilitate academic learning.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning environments that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Systems are in place to identify which students are struggling and why they are struggling and to support their health/social emotional issues. b. Systems are in place to refer students to the supports that address their need(s) following the RTI model. c. A broad menu of on-site strategies, services and partnerships respond to student/family needs. d. Students are provided healthy food and health-focused physical activity. e. Health education is integrated into classrooms, programs, and services. f. The school has a youth development component (citizen/values programs, advisory, leadership class, student council, internships, etc.) to help students acquire the attitudes, competencies, values, and social skills they need to facilitate academic learning. g. Strategies and/or organizational structures (e.g., houses, academies, etc.) provide social supports for all students. Staff can modify these strategies/structures to meet students’ needs.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school monitors, reviews, and adjusts these practices with input from the various stakeholders of the school, including students, in order to ensure that the school provides a coordinated and integrated system of academic and learning support services.

90

Quality Indicator 2: Safe, Supportive, & Healthy Learning Environments Standard

Standard 6: Inclusive, Welcoming, and Caring Community* A quality school creates an inclusive, welcoming, safe, caring and nurturing community which: 1. Fosters respectful communication among students, families, staff, and community. 2. Values individual and cultural differences. 3. Engages and partners with students, families, and community. 4. Creates a positive school climate that includes behavior management as well as structures that recognize improvement, achievement, and growth.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining The school provides learning environments that show strong and consistent evidence of the following: j. Students and parents feel safe and free from threat, bullying, and/or discrimination. k. Students and parents trust staff. l. Students and their families are “known” by school staff. m. Procedures and practices support new students and their families to quickly feel like members of the school community. n. Staff, students, and their families intentionally build caring and supportive relationships across different individual and cultural “lines”. o. Interactions are characterized by caring communication. p. Procedures and practices support students to resolve and heal conflicts and “restore justice” to the school community. q. Structures and activities before/during/and after school create a safe and inclusive environment for students (main office, playground, hallways, cafeteria, etc.) r. The school has effective behavior management schoolwide that creates a positive school climate (rewards, progressive discipline plan, celebrations to recognize improvement/ achievement, daily routines that reinforce culture of the school, etc.)

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school monitors, reviews, and adjusts these practices with input from the various stakeholders of the school, including students, in order to ensure that students and their families experience an inclusive, welcoming, safe, caring and nurturing community.

*This standard addresses systems and practices outside of the classroom and it complements QI 1.2

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

91

Quality Indicator 3: Learning Communities Focused on Continuous Improvement The Oakland Unified School District is committed to supporting high levels of learning for every student, ensuring that students are prepared for success in college, in their careers, and as citizens. We believe that thriving schools consistently endeavor to develop as robust learning communities. A “Learning Community Focused on Continuous Improvement” describes a school that consistently and collaboratively works to improve the school and to produce higher and more equitable outcomes by students. The school staff – in collaboration with students, families and the broader community – study, reflect, and learn together to strengthen their individual and collective efforts. They consistently look at data, plan, monitor, and evaluate their work. Through these efforts, they share decision-making, responsibility, and accountability. This Learning Communities rubric focuses on the members of the community whose primary responsibility is student learning: teachers and those who support teachers. This group of individuals is not de facto a learning community; however, they develop into a learning community as they collaborate, build trust, challenge one another, and support one another – in service of student learning. This rubric enables schools to self-assess against the quality school learning community standards, based on evidence from a range of sources. In addition, the Quality Accountability and Analytics office, other central office personnel, and coaches will interact around this rubric to develop growth plans and support schools’ ongoing development. The unit of analysis for this rubric is the school, not individuals or teams within the school.

Undeveloped Beginning Developing Sustaining Refining

There was little evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was some evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was substantial evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review and improve these practices/conditions.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

92

Quality Indicator 3: Learning Communities Focused on Continuous Improvement Standard

Standard 1: Collaborative Planning, Data Collection and Analysis A quality school ensures that teachers work together collaboratively, using meaningful data, focused on student progress

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. Teachers meet at least once a month for collaborative planning and inquiry focused on student learning. b. Teachers use collaboration time to map curriculum backwards from high leverage, important learning goals/outcomes/standards; collaboratively make curricular choices; and plan instruction and assessments. c. Teachers regularly look at evidence of student learning (formative and summative assessment data or student work) to understand students’ level of mastery of the learning objectives. d. Teachers collect multiple kinds of data about student performance and their experience of learning. e. Teachers use their data analysis to identify specific needs for re-teaching, intervention, and extension for individual students. f. Based on this evidence of student learning, teachers share best practices, trouble shoot dilemmas, and plan re-teaching and extension activities. g. All teachers take responsibility for creating and maintaining quality collaboration structures by participating fully, supporting a clear agenda, recording notes and decisions, and following-up with assigned tasks.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices that ensure effective Professional Learning Communities focused on student progress.

Note: While the original standard (written in 2010-2011) focused on DuFour’s definition of Professional Learning Communities as the ideal structure for teacher collaboration, current support for teacher collaboration (in OUSD in 2013-2014) is taking multiple forms, all of which prioritize building learning communities that are respectful, focused on student learning, and which use multiple data sources to examine student learning and experience of learning.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

93

Quality Indicator 3: Learning Communities Focused on Continuous Improvement Standard

Standard 4: Professional Learning Activities A quality school has professional learning activities that are embedded in practice, promote teacher leadership, and support teachers to evaluate and revise their classroom practices.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence that high quality professional learning activities help teachers improve student learning. Professional Learning Activities at the school are: h. Embedded in practice. They are useful to teacher practice with students, and model effective instructional strategies. i. Aligned to the vision and mission of the school. j. Targeted towards and responsive to the current needs of students and teachers. k. Developmental and differentiated to meet the needs of all teachers at the school. Professional Learning Activities at the school: l. Promote teacher leadership. m. Support teachers to evaluate and improve their classroom practices. n. May include:  Whole staff learning opportunities  Individual or small group coaching  Supervision  Peer Coaching  Peer observations  Lesson study  Cycles of Inquiry  Training in a specific item  PLCs  Participating in protocols such as “Looking at Student Work”, “Tuning”, Etc.  Study groups or book studies

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices that ensure high quality professional learning activities for teachers.

94

Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships The Oakland Unified School District is committed to supporting high levels of learning for every student, ensuring that students are prepared for success in college, in their careers, and as citizens. Central to this commitment is meaningfully engaging students, families, and communities as key partners in this work. “Meaningful Student, Family, and Community Engagement/Partnerships” result when the school staff ensures that students, families and the community are partners in creating quality learning experiences for all students and a “full-service” school for the community. A quality school draws on the strengths and knowledge of the students, their families, and the community to become a center of support to the community and to meet the needs of all its members. Students, families, and community groups are “at the table”—giving voice to their concerns and perspectives; looking at data; planning, monitoring, evaluating the quality of the school; and participating in key decisions. The following rubrics enable key school stakeholders to assess the development of a school toward the “Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships” standards, based on evidence from a range of sources. In addition, school leaders, central office personnel, and coaches will use these rubrics to design improvement strategies and support schools’ ongoing development. The unit of analysis for these rubrics is the school, not programs or individuals within the school. These rubrics will not be used for the evaluation of school leaders, teachers, or other school personnel.

Undeveloped Beginning Developing Sustaining Refining

There was little evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was some evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was substantial evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard. There was strong & consistent evidence found that the school implemented the practice(s) and/or built the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review evidence of these practices/conditions.

Definitions Leaders: Principals are the primary leaders of their schools; some schools have assistant principals, coaches, and/or teachers who also have formal roles as leaders. In addition, every member of a school community has opportunities to function as a leader, depending on the school’s needs and the individual’s specific skills. School Staff: Staff includes the principal, other administrators, and teachers (certificated), as well as other adults who work in the school (classified). School Community: The community includes school staff, students, students’ families, individuals from the neighborhood, community-based organizations, and support providers who are associated with the school. Leadership Groups: Schools have a variety of groups that provide guidance for and make decisions regarding the school. All schools have school site councils (SSCs) that are responsible for strategic planning, and many schools have additional structures, such as an Instructional Leadership Team, which guide and support the ongoing work of the school.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

95

Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships Standard

Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Standard 2: Working together in Partnership A quality school shares decision making with its students, their families, and the community, as part of working together in partnership. They share information, have influence over school improvement and support the creation of policies, practices, and programs that affect students, thus becoming agents of change.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: e. The school has high-quality activities and strategies which build the capacity of students, families, and community to work together in partnership. f. The school creates structures and mechanisms to bring families of all racial, ethnic, socio-economic backgrounds which are representative of the student body as partners and volunteers into the school. g. The school creates structures and mechanisms which continuously engage families, including those who are less involved, to get their ideas, input, and involvement. h. Student, family, and community groups (Coordination of Services Team, After School programs, community agencies, etc.), in partnership with the school, set clear and measurable goals that are aligned with the school wide vision and goals. i. The school has developed/adopted and implemented standards of meaningful engagement (either school or district approved) to build effective student, family, and community partnerships. j. Students and their families participate in both mandated representative bodies (SSC, ELAC, etc.) and other collaborative structures and share decision making around school programs, improvement plans, expected student outcomes, etc.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to monitor the effectiveness of these practices to ensure that a school works together in partnership.

96

Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships Standard Standard 5: Student/Family Engagement on Student Progress A quality school communicates with families effectively so they know how the student is progressing and how they participate in the school community. It allows clear two-way channels for communication. The school uses strategies that help families overcome the language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit their full participation.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

Sustaining

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: e. The school has multiple high-quality activities and strategies which engage students and their family in knowing how the student is progressing academically and engaging in the school community. f. Families and school staff have trusting relationships and engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student progress. g. These activities and strategies are designed to minimize language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit students and their families’ full participation. h. The school has created and implemented policies that encourage all teachers to communicate frequently with families about student academic progress and student engagement in the school community. These policies are well communicated with staff and families.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review evidence of the effectiveness of these practices to ensure effective student/family engagement on student progress.

97

Quality Indicator 4: Meaningful Student, Family and Community Engagement/Partnerships Standard Standard 6: Family Engagement on Student Learning A quality school provides opportunities for families to understand what their child is learning (grade level standards); why they are learning it; what it looks like to know, perform, and interact “well” (i.e. with quality); and what potential career/college pathways are before them.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

Sustaining

Refining

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: c. The school engages with families, not only about how their child is progressing academically and socially, but about the what, why, and “so what” of the academic program. That includes the overall academic vision and mission, what it looks like to do well academically and socially, and to map out toward what goals this quality of work is taking a student. d. These strategies help each student and their families overcome the language, cultural, economic, and physical barriers that can limit full understanding.

There is strong and consistent evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review evidence of these practices to ensure effective family engagement on student learning.

Note: This standard draws a contrast with Standard 5 in the way that the school engages with families, not only about how their child is progressing academically and socially, but about the what, why, and “so what” of the academic program. Typically in this stage of development, a school engages with parents and families to discuss their overall academic vision and mission, to clarify what it looks like to do well academically and socially, and to map out toward what goals this quality of work is taking a student.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

98

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management The Oakland Unified School District is committed to supporting high levels of learning for every student, ensuring that students are prepared for success in college, in their careers, and as citizens. We believe that the leaders of a school play a critical role in this success: supporting students, nurturing and guiding teachers, and empowering families and the community – thriving together as a full service community school. “Effective School Leadership & Resource Management” happens when school leaders work together to build a vision of quality and equity, guiding the efforts of the school community to make this vision a reality. Leaders focus the school community on instruction, enabling positive academic and social-emotional outcomes for every student. Leaders guide the professional development of teachers and create the conditions within which teachers and the rest of the community engage in ongoing learning. These leaders manage people, funding, time, technology, and other materials effectively to promote thriving students and build robust, sustainable community schools. This rubric enables schools to self-assess against the quality school leadership standards, based on evidence from a range of sources. In addition, the Quality Accountability and Analytics office, other central office personnel, and coaches will interact around this rubric to develop growth plans and support schools’ ongoing development. The unit of analysis for this rubric is the school, not individuals within the school. A separate tool guides the development of individual leaders, based upon OUSD’s Leadership Dimensions. This rubric will not be used for the evaluation of school leaders. Undeveloped Beginning Developing Sustaining Refining

There was little evidence found that the school has implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was some evidence found that the school has implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was substantial evidence found that the school has implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was strong and consistent evidence found that the school has implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard. There was strong and consistent evidence found that the school has implemented the practice(s) and/or build the conditions described in the standard, and the school has implemented systems to review and improve these practices/conditions.

Definitions Leaders: Principals are the primary leaders of their schools; some schools have assistant principals, coaches, and/or teachers who also have formal roles as leaders. In addition, every member of a school community has opportunities to function as a leader, depending on the school’s needs and the individual’s specific skills. School Staff: Staff includes the principal, other administrators, and teachers (certificated), as well as other adults who work in the school (classified). School Community: The community includes school staff, students, students’ families, individuals from the neighborhood, community-based organizations, and support providers who are associated with the school. Leadership Groups: Schools have a variety of groups that provide guidance for and make decisions regarding the school. All schools have school site councils (SSCs) that are responsible for strategic planning, and many schools have additional structures, such as an Instructional Leadership Team, which guide and support the ongoing work of the school.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

99

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management Standard

Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

Sustaining

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: f. The school’s vision is focused on student learning and high expectations for all students. g. The school’s vision guides all aspects of the school’s programs and activities. h. The school’s leadership engages all constituents in aligning their efforts to the vision. i. Members of the school community are knowledgeable about and committed to the vision. j. School leaders consistently act on core beliefs which reflect the vision and mission.

Standard 4: Vision Driven A quality school has leadership which ensures that the school’s shared vision is focused on student learning, grounded in high expectations for all students, and guides all aspects of school life.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Refining There is strong and consistent evidence of this standard as described in the “Sustaining”" column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices that ensure that all aspects of the school are guided by the shared vision, focused on student learning and high expectations for all.

100

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management Standard

Standard 5: Focused on Equity A quality school has leadership that creates and sustains equitable conditions for learning and advocates for interrupting patterns of historical inequities.

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence of the following: a. The school leadership consistently articulates the need to interrupt patterns of inequities. b. School leadership guides the development and quality of services that support all students to have equal access to learning (including academic, social-emotional, health, family well-being, adult attitudes, etc). c. The school staff consistently engages in practices that interrupt patterns of inequity. d. The school staff frequently collects and analyzes learning data by subgroup in order to monitor and adjust practices designed to interrupt patterns of inequity. e. The school staff has implemented programs to address specific subgroup needs based on their learning data. f. Resources are used to meet the needs of all students equitably: staffing, technology, materials, space, etc. g. School leadership fosters an ongoing dialogue among school and community constituents across race, class, age, and school and community to engage in bold change to achieve equitable school results. h. School leadership acts in concert with allies to systematically address inequities; help others navigate the system and remove or circumvent institutional barriers to student opportunity and achievement.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of this standard as described in the “Sustaining”" column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices that ensure that the leadership is focused on equity.

101

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management Standard

Standard 6: Supports the Development of Quality Instruction A quality school has leadership that guides and supports the development of quality instruction across the school to ensure student learning.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining ” column.

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence that the leadership of the school (principal, specialists, ILT, etc.): a. Guides, monitors, and supports curricular choices and interventions based on expected student learning outcomes and the school vision. b. Guides, monitors, and supports instructional practices that engage all students in high quality learning, are aligned with the school vision. c. Ensures that there is adequate professional learning, coaching, and supervision to develop quality instruction across the school.

Refining There is strong and consistent evidence of this standard as described in the “Sustaining”" column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices that ensure the development of quality instruction across the school to ensure student learning.

102

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management Standard

Standard 9: Culture of Mutual Accountability: Collaboratively develops outcomes & monitors progress A quality school has leadership which collaboratively develops outcomes, monitors progress, and fosters a culture of mutual accountability.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining ” column.

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence that: a. The school staff has developed clear student outcomes and goals for learning and behavior. b. The school staff has developed clear professional expectations and goals for staff. c. The school staff monitors students’ progress. d. The school staff monitors staff expectations. e. The school staff follows clear processes and procedures to hold themselves accountable to one another and the goals and expectations. f. There is a culture of mutual accountability within the staff – staff members have productive difficult conversations that continually improve their collaboration and work with students and families.

Refining There is strong and consistent evidence of this standard as described in the “Sustaining”" column. In addition, the school has implemented systems to review and improve the practices to collaboratively develop outcomes, monitor progress and have a culture of mutual accountability.

103

Quality Indicator 5: Effective School Leadership and Resource Management STANDARD

Standard 10: Organizational Management A quality school has leadership which develops systems and allocates resources (time, human, financial, and material) in service of the school’s vision.

East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School 2013-2014 School Quality Rubrics

Undeveloped

There is little evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Beginning

There is some evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining” column.

Developing

There is substantial evidence of the standard as described in the “Sustaining ” column.

Sustaining There is strong and consistent evidence that: a. The school’s resources are allocated in service of the school vision b. The school’s resources are maximized in service of the vision c. The school leadership effectively leverages district and community resources, grants and partnerships in service of the school vision d. The school leadership effectively uses the district’s budgeting systems (RBB, IFAS, etc.) to maximize use of state and federal funds in service of the school vision e. The assignment and use of TSAs, coaches, etc. are appropriate, effective, and focused in service of the school vision f. The school leadership seeks out additional resources to meet identified student needs and aligned to the school vision.

Refining

There is strong and consistent evidence of this standard as described in the “Sustaining”" column. In addition, the school staff regularly reflects on their approach to resource allocation, and has adjusted their approach and systems to better allocate resources in service of the school’s vision.

104