Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement

OUR VISION

The Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement (APISA) Initiative lifts up the diverse API populations in Oakland for every student to thrive, achieve and succeed in OUSD.

The APISA Initiative will:

1. Build a strong network of staff, families, youth leaders, and community groups throughout Oakland supporting all API students to achieve and thrive.
   
   
2. Ensure that OUSD’s systems, infrastructure, and school content are serving and reflecting the diversity of our over 45 Asian and Pacific Islander populations to better serve them.
   
   
3. Lift up API voices and histories to inform and create safe, supportive, and inclusive community schools where all students experience belonging and empowerment to achieve.
   
   

2017-2019 PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Worked with Enrollment, Tech Services, Research Department, and AYPAL to implement historic 2016 Disaggregated API Data resolution to ensure that specific student populations are being monitored and served, including adding Tongan, Mien & Yemeni to collected categories.
• Secured $100,000 for literacy initiatives to help improve literacy engagement at an earlier age for Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern students with the lowest levels of literacy in OUSD, through family outreach for early childhood education enrollment and culturally responsive arts and narrative programs for elementary, middle and high school students.
• Hosted first ever Pacific Islander College Night in November 2018 to provide resources and information regarding the college going process because of low college enrollment rates, with over half of all Pacific Islander high school students attending.
• Through collaborative network efforts and raising the bar through the first ever Pacific Islander Honor Roll and Senior Celebration, OUSD saw the Pacific Islander graduation rate increase by an unprecedented 20% in the Spring of 2018.
• Launched the Southeast Asians RISE Fellowship program to lift up stories from Southeast Asian youth and sponsored QTAAYS! LGBTQIA+ Fellowship program for high school students.
• Supported the development of the Oakland Pacific Islander Network across four major high schools (Skyline, Castlemont, Fremont, Oakland HS) to coordinate services, resources, and programs with the broader Pacific Islander community.
• Hosted first ever Yemen Student Panel with Sanctuary Schools Task Force and Yemeni community leaders to educate staff on Yemen’s history, politics, and community needs.
• Launched Takalam Middle Eastern Student Summer Program in collaboration with KDOL and the Arab Film and Media Institute to produce media featured at the 2018 Arab Film Festival.
• Secured $10,000 from the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation to help 12 elementary classes visit the historic detention center used during the Chinese Exclusion Act and World War II to learn about past and present immigration policies.
• Screened the Chinese Exclusion Act documentary to 200 educators and community members to feature local Chinese American stories and share OUSD educator-developed curriculum with the region.
• Secured partnership with IWAY: Improving Wellness for Asian Youth to offer free workshops and resources for API youth to support mental health and wellness for a student population with high rates of depression, suicide, and stress.
• Collaborated with Restorative Justice and the Sanctuary Schools Task Force to lift up history and healing for Khmer Cambodian students and families in OUSD who suffer from intergenerational trauma from the Khmer Rouge genocide.
• Working with college fellows to develop Southeast Asian curriculum absent from history textbooks.
• Supported API students in All City Council to increase representation of voice and leadership to participate in OUSD policy and district-wide change.
• Participated in 2018 History Curriculum Adoption Committee to ensure textbooks best reflect our diverse California communities.
• Collaborated with the Oakland Education Fund for API Reading Week in May at over 65 schools across the district.
• Increased representation of diverse API young men in My Brothers Keeper Collaborative work to organize youth summit for young men of color in Oakland.
• Leading Equity, Culturally Responsive Practices, and Implicit Bias workshops at Cleveland Elementary to focus in central region feeder patterns with high proportions of API students.
• Leading Implicit Bias and Equity professional learning community for Elementary Principals across OUSD.
• Leading Culturally Responsive Practices Task Force with Behavioral Health, Special Education, Afterschool, and Teacher Support with 5 district-wide professional development workshops.
• Conducted youth-led listening campaign with 30 listening circles with students and families, and conducted 55 interviews with educators and community leaders to inform the development of the above programs and services.