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 tracking our progress and impact, please visit our Progress Monitoring page. →

student graduate smiling at graduation ceremony

Focus Area 1: Prepare Students for Post-Secondary Success

Aligning systems to ensure students are able to earn certifications, college credit, and/or apprenticeships through the completion of a pathway and increasing the number of students transitioning successfully to a post-secondary opportunity.

graduate shaking hands with Superintendent Johnson-Trammell

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Develop a 9th-12th grade continuum for college and career awareness, exploration, and preparation.	Increased quality and integration of curriculum that begins in 9th grade.	in progress
Collaborate with Peralta District and industry to design early college credit and certificates that align with short-term or immediate employment.	Increase in number of students earning college credit and industry-recognized certifications prior to graduation.	in progress
Ensure equitable access to college and career opportunities through data monitoring and broad-based supports; collaborate with partners to leverage resources in support of student success.	Increase in the number of students participating in rich, relevant work-based learning opportunities and transitioning successfully to post-secondary opportunities.	in progress
Pilot Employment Center and aligned post-OUSD resources to better connect students to supported employment experiences pre- and post-graduation.	Increase in the number of students successfully transitioning into employment opportunities.	in progress
Implement quarterly student and parent/guardian engagements focused on increasing awareness of pathway and career opportunities (starting in middle school), and on graduation, A-G, college and career requirements.	Empowered students and parent/guardians who have access to and are able to attend centralized parent/student engagement events.	in progress

Focus Area 2: Develop Systems of Personalized Supports

Investing in and creating systems of personalized supports for our most marginalized students.

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Improve data monitoring systems to develop an early warning and acceleration system.	Increase in the number of students who are on track to graduate and are A-G eligible.
Increase the academic and socio-emotional supports for 9th graders, such as tutoring and mentoring.	Increase and incorporation of academic interventions and wraparound supports into existing academic spaces.
Increase and incorporate wraparound supports into existing academic spaces (e.g. counselor, case manager, restorative justice coordinator, mental health and administrators) at schools with greater needs.	Increased monitoring and intervention around student progress.

Focus Area 3: Integrate Real World Learning

Deepening the integration of career technical education and work-based learning opportunities with our core content areas within and outside of school walls to ensure a relevant and authentic learning experience for students.

student using camera equipment to capture event happening

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
Professional development and ongoing support of high-quality, integrated literacy and Algebra 1 practices in 9th grade.	Educator knowledge, skill, agency, and collective efficacy around equitable literacy and math instruction.
Support a cohort of teachers to develop capstone- and standards-aligned performance task benchmarks for 10th grade that integrates core content, career technical education, and work-based learning.	Development of a calibrated, high-quality, pathway-aligned 10th grade performance benchmark.
Expand and deepen academic and career technical education teacher industry externship participation and hosts.	Teacher participation in industry externships; curriculum that reflects teacher learning; dedicated industry hosts who become deep partners.
Implement Work Experience Education programming at focus schools to support deeper learning and career ladders for working students.	Schools implementing high-quality work education programming leading to an increase the number of students in supported employment.
Identify and support a set of focus schools to implement robust and deep year-round internship programs, including differentiated support for paid internships and supports to ensure student access and success.	Increased number of students in semester- or year-long internships.

Focus Area 4: Strengthen High School Preparation

Ensuring middle grade students are prepared for high school by strengthening our emphasis on challenging and relevant curricula with support for students' academic and developmental needs.

student looking at front of classroom working on school work

Year One Actions	Deliverables	Status
In math, implement a new interim progress monitoring system in middle schools where all students will take a pre- and post-test for a unit of the curriculum in the fall, and then again in the Spring.	Gauge the amount of learning happening in particular schools, based on the results of the pre- and post-tests each semester. Make adjustments based on the results.	in progress
In math, ensure that students are engaged in productive struggle, discussion, and rigorous tasks.	As students engage in rigorous work daily, we should see improvement in their math skills as demonstrated on regular class assessments, the interim and the end of year assessments.	in progress

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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