We must do better
Simply preparing students for high school graduation is no longer an acceptable bar for a world-class education. More than 95 percent of jobs created since the Great Recession require at least some college education, and yet in Oakland, recent analysis suggests approximately one out of five Oakland schools are in the bottom five percent in California. Further:
- Our children are not ready for kindergarten. “43% of OUSD students enter ‘kindergarten ready.’” While 82% of white students enter ready, only 36% of African American students and 29% of Latinx students do.
- Our children are not reading by the end of 3rd Grade. 29% of Oakland third graders meet or exceed reading standards.
- Our children are not ready for high school school. 26% of Oakland students enter 9th grade meeting or exceeding math standards and 39% of students do so for English Language Arts standards.
- Our children are not prepared for college. Only 19% of Oakland’s 11th graders are prepared to take entry-level courses in college in English Language Arts, and 8% in math. Of all 2015-16 graduates, only 63% completed the basic course requirements just to apply to California Universities.
- Too few Oakland children graduate high school. Oakland has a 70% cohort graduation rate overall, and rates are even lower for historically underserved learners, at 66% for African-American, 70% Latino, and approximately 57% for students with special needs.
