What We're Working On

During our strategic planning process in Spring 2021, our working group identified four focus areas. Each focus area includes a list of Year 1 actions and deliverables, listed below. Status updates are reported quarterly.

For more information about how we’re monitoring progress, please visit our Progress Monitoring page. →

Group of staff accepting award at an awards ceremony

Four Areas of Focus

For this initiative, each focus area is brought to life across the stages of educator development to meet the needs and opportunities of educators at that point of their career. Our focus areas also maximize the collective impact work required to effectively grow and support a dynamic, representative educator workforce that research has proven benefits all students.

Strengthen partnerships

Strengthening partnerships across key stakeholder groups in the Bay Area, in particular with individuals and organizations of color, to support the other three focus areas.

Strengthen pathways

Creating clear pathways for our students to become educators, activating the desire to teach for local citizens, and providing opportunities for Black and Brown community members.

Strengthen affinity-based support structures

Establishing dynamic, affinity-based support structures for educators across OUSD.

Strengthen conditions for educator learning and continued growth

Creating conditions in school that serve educators, students, and families; building nimble growth opportunities to meet educators’ ever-evolving needs; removing inequitable barriers for Black and Brown folks in Oakland to become and stay educators; adapting teaching and learning based on what has been learned through the pandemic.

Stage 1 of Development: Black and Brown Aspiring Educators in High School and College

Black and Brown aspiring educators in high school or college will be inspired by clear pathways with related projects and organized supports, such as summer programming and work opportunities. They will be supported by college and career readiness staff in an academy structure, by their work-based learning coordinator and counselors, and by their own teachers of color.

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Partnerships — Develop district-community taskforce with leaders from Linked Learning, Peralta College system, Talent, and the High School Network to create a high school cohort model of aspiring educators.	Increased quality and integration of curriculum that begins in 9th grade.	in progress
Pathways — Create a mentoring, counseling, and cohort-based system of support for aspiring educators who are OUSD grads, engaging current educators of color who are OUSD graduates as mentors.	Increase in number of students earning college credit and industry-recognized certifications prior to graduation.	in progress
Pathways — Provide internships with OUSD for high school and college students across majors; map employment opportunities that relate to teaching and develop pathways.	Increase in the number of students participating in rich, relevant work-based learning opportunities and transitioning successfully to post-secondary opportunities.	in progress

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Stage 2 of Development: Black and Brown Aspiring Educators with a Bachelor's Degree

Black and Brown aspiring educators with a bachelor's degree will have a clear sense of their direction, with a pathway to a credential program, supported by structures such as cohort models, residencies, paid veteran teacher mentors, and opportunities to gain experience working within education and to build relationships with school sites. They will be encouraged to think about their long-term growth with career planning and learning about trajectories in education.

group of students showing paper to each other

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Partnerships — Develop partnerships with local universities to provide clear pathways for graduating seniors into employment in OUSD.	List of local university partners and students seeking employment in OUSD.	in progress
Pathways — Explore creation of in-house OUSD teacher credential program targeted at high needs subject areas (e.g. Bilingual Multiple Subjects, Mild/Moderate Special Education).	Summary report with recommendation.	in progress
Affinity Based Supports — Provide structured cohort opportunities with mentors, testing support, financial support, professional development, community, and relationship building.	Roster of aspiring educators supported by mentorship, counseling, and career opportunities.	not yet started
Professional Learning — Ensure test preparation is available and paid, including testing vouchers and licensure coaching and support.	Enrollment of aspiring educators in test preparation supports with the availability of test vouchers.	in progress

Stage 3 of Development: Early Career Black and Brown Educators

Black and Brown early career educators will experience a personal, relational entry into teaching. They will have supports from multiple levels of the system, from district-organized affinity groups and new teacher mentoring programs to site-level systems of support. They’ll have a professional development (PD) plan to support their self-sufficiency with both universal foundational PD and individualized learning in content areas of interest.

group of educators looking and working out of work binders

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Partnerships — Expand partnerships with credentialing experts to provide enhanced test preparation for current educators who are still working toward a credential. Reimburse all teachers for the cost of credentialing assessments.	Teachers passing licensure exams, making progress on their path to a California credential.	in progress
Pathways — Develop a pathway program that integrates strong mentorship, coaching, and tuition support for Black and Brown educators pursuing alternative licensure routes.	Cohort of educators who are supported in pursuing alternative licensure.	in progress
Pathways — Develop community and belonging among new educators who have entered through one of OUSD's 9 Grow Our Own Educator Pathways.	Redesigned communications strategy that highlights aligned pathway and entry points, with prospective Black and Brown educators in mind, including educators from diverse linguistic backgrounds such as Spanish, Mam, and Arabic.	in progress
Affinity Based Supports — Further develop the range of affinity-based support structures available to new educators as core elements of their professional learning systems.	Variety of affinity-based support structures for Black and Brown early career educators.	in progress
Professional Learning — Leverage collective resources to further develop coordinated systems of professional learning and mentorship differentiated for early career educators.	Insights from school leaders used to develop a common set of practices; experienced mentors of color and other leaders supporting diversity initiatives; a differentiated set of central supports; pilot a year-long professional learning series on foundational anti-racist teaching practices that can also count as pre-service requirements with select intern credential programs.	in progress

Stage 4 of Development: Black and Brown Practicing and Experienced Educators

Black and Brown practicing and experienced educators will feel recognized for their experience, valued for their cultures, successful in their efforts, and respected in decision-making. They will be a part of a connected community through affinity groups, communities of practice, peers and colleagues, and site coaches. Planning time, space for reflection, peer observations, and a personalized PD plan will support the ongoing growth of their practice, as well as opportunities for continued growth into greater leadership as experienced educators.

group of three African-American female speakers

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Pathways — Enhance recruitment of Black and Brown mentors to increase representation in teacher leadership roles and opportunities for affinity-based pairing in new teacher mentoring programs.	Measurement of initial impact on teacher experience and practice.	not yet started
Pathways — Elevate the practices and voices of experienced educators of color in our district’s professional learning spaces.	More paid opportunities for experienced educators to share practice and engage in peer-facilitated professional learning spaces.	in progress
Pathways — Scale up retention initiatives for Black and Brown educators focused on debt relief and BCLAD (Bilingual, Cross-Cultural, Language and Academic Development) licensure.	Loan forgiveness program providing partial reimbursement for student loans in exchange for years of service.	not yet started
Affinity Based Supports — Further develop our data dashboard to reflect the student population and staff population by job class with hiring decisions and teacher turnover; use this equity dashboard for hiring and to drive process changes in service of more equitable staffing outcomes.	Staff Equity Audit dashboard highlights the intersections of retention and hiring decisions with a focus on hiring decisions related to Black and Brown educators.	in progress
Professional Learning — Explore opportunities to support induction for Oakland leaders to develop a common set of mentoring practices and leadership competencies.	Decision to pursue accreditation for OUSD as an administrative credential sponsor and/or to strengthen partnerships with existing accredited programs who are serving our employees well.	not yet started
Professional Learning — Build stronger teacher-to-administrator preparation systems, with focus on the development of Black and Brown leaders.	Cohort of aspiring principals who meet quarterly to discuss job-embedded growth in alignment with Leadership Growth and Development System, paired with paid leadership mentor to debrief developmental opportunities.	not yet started

Ongoing Work

Built into this Strategic Plan are concrete action plans, deliverables, and metrics by which to measure our success. The Plan also includes an ongoing dialogue with the community so we can continue to engage in meaningful partnership. From now until June 2024, OUSD will:

Convene working groups to monitor year 1 actions and establish future actions and deliverables. (For more information about our working groups, please see our FAQ page.)
Organize quarterly co-chair engagements with the Superintendent for progress updates and guidance.
Provide additional opportunities for community engagement.
Share the strategic plan with the broader community.

We invite you to stay connected by keeping an eye on our Get Involved page → for opportunities to raise your voice and share your vision for change in OUSD.

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