What We're Working On: Creating Joyful Schools

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. →

Authentically engaging and involving youth as leaders in their education experience, building authentic relationships with families with two-way communication in primary languages, centering the experiences and voices of Black and Brown youth and families to define joy, beauty, and inclusion while building community consensus

Ensuring restorative practices are truly integrated into the fabric of our schools, with monitoring of implementation

Creating welcoming practices and intentional work around bias and racism

Facilitating joyful learning spaces from home to school; designing classrooms, learning spaces, and opportunities that value joy and multiple ways of thinking and being; providing spaces for the community to gather and celebrate each other; and expanding outdoor spaces for youth

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 (here →) for opportunities to raise your voice and share your vision for change in OUSD.