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Oakland Unified School District

Student Engagement

Standards for Meaningful Student Engagement

Students in leadership class or bodies will demonstrate:

  • Knowledge of Self
  • Ability to action plan and lead school improvement projects or campaigns
  • Attitude of ownership of school and education
  • Understanding of and ability to represent constituents
  • Ability to participate in youth-adult decision-making

School sites will:

  • Have mechanisms to support student engagement in key school planning decisions
  • Participate in district-wide student engagement efforts
  • Facilitate student leader access to and relationship with decision makers
  • Facilitate strong student leader to constituents, student body

The District will:

  • Support district-wide student engagement body
  • Involve students in district level policy-making
  • Involve a broad and diverse group of students in district-wide engagement body
  • Support adults to lead processes and participate in youth-adult decision-making
  • Support student school board representatives
  • Support site-based student engagement efforts

Student Engagement Programs

Meaningful Student Engagement (MSE) Leadership Teacher Community of Practice

Leadership teachers are instrumental to creating the conditions for students to be meaningfully engaged in shaping school culture and climate. They serve as advisors to students and support the realization and integration of OUSD's Student Engagement Standards in the classroom and on campus by implementing the Meaningful Student Engagement (MSE) curriculum and serving as a liaison to student-led campaigns and our student union. We offer professional learning and coaching to leadership teachers, as well as technical assistance for implementing the MSE curriculum.

All City Council Governing Board

All City Council (ACC) seeks to create positive change in our schools. ACC amplifies student voice by serving as a bridge between adult decision makers and the student body. The council are a diverse team of student leaders who represent or are elected by Oakland students. ACC organizes campaigns and activities to serve the assessed need of its constituents, including addressing internalized, interpersonal, and institutional oppression in our daily lives and the daily functioning of our schools and working toward solutions. The All City Council Governing Board body is charged with leading ACC delegates to accomplish its vision and mission statement. This body directly engages with and trains student delegates from each school. The training and engagement is connected to (1) the student-led Making A-G Real Campaign, and (2) student voice on district-wide initiatives.

Youth Voice with School Culture (ACC Monthly Meeting)

All City Council High School general meetings and events directly support student leadership development and engagement at school site by involving students in addressing their own issues through student action research and school culture campaign development and implementation with adult allies. Students build relationships across social types, traditional and non-traditional leadership positions and organizations, and on and off-campus based student organizations. They are fueled by their collective energy to impact site-based school culture. All City Council Middle School meetings directly support student leadership development and engagement at school sites by providing district-wide training, team building, and connection with other schools, strengthening student ownership and investment in their own achievement.

Middle School Peer Resource Conference & High School Youth Action Summit

District-wide meaningful student engagement events (conferences, summits, etc.) support student engagement and leadership for participating middle and high schools in the areas of peer health, violence prevention, tobacco/drug/alcohol prevention, leadership development, multiracial understanding, and cultural empowerment.

Youth Voice with Continuous Improvement

The aim of our school governance work is to develop the knowledge and skills of school team members to involve parents and students of LCAP target groups in shared decision making for school improvement. Specifically, we provide technical assistance with the formation and democratic election of School Governance Teams. We support middle and high school students to participate on School Site Councils and the District-Wide LCAP Student Advisory.

Resources

Please return to our home page to view our calendar of events.