1. District policies

2. Administrative Bulletins

3. Minutes of the governing board for the past two years

4. Interviews with board members, district administrators, principals, teachers, and community members

1. The auditors reviewed policies and administrative bulletins pertaining to the district’s operational framework for management of the curriculum. The auditors found the scope and quality of the board policies are inadequate to guide sound curriculum management (see CCMAC Curriculum Management Audit, under separate cover).

2. The auditors noted the following policy deficiencies:

3. The auditors’ general analysis of the school district’s policies for management of the curriculum indicated that most of the policy series and administrative bulletins do not address issues of curriculum alignment or control. The board policies and administrative bulletins of the Oakland Unified School District are inadequate to improve student achievement and control the management of the written, taught, and tested curricula.

4. The auditors also found the process that requires formal adoption of administrative bulletins to be overly restrictive. A regular board review process for information and monitoring purposes would be more consistent with an effective school board’s function and role.

5. The auditors also found the district’s table of organization and job descriptions to be inadequate for the sound management of curriculum and instruction (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover). A review of the table of organization revealed the following deficiencies:

6. During interviews, some administrators indicated that recent changes in the table of organization were poorly communicated and not fully understood by staff members (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

7. The auditors analyzed the district’s job descriptions and found most to be outdated and of poor quality. Only 30 job descriptions (23.1 percent) earned a rating of adequate or better in all criteria for fully functional job descriptions.

8. No job descriptions existed for 31 positions identified on the table or organization. In contrast, job descriptions were presented for four positions that no longer exist in the district.

1. Develop and implement a comprehensive set of board policies that focuses district efforts, strengthens organizational effectiveness, guides curriculum design and delivery, improves employee skill, and promotes student achievement.

2. Design and adopt a policy calling for the Superintendent to approve all Administrative Bulletins in order to enable more rapid response to organizational problems and to empower top administration to act more effectively and efficiently.

3. Develop an ongoing training program for staff on policy implementation.

4. Develop a plan that ensures the implementation of policy at all levels of the school district. Hold each administrator responsible for implementing policy and for ensuring that his or her staff understands and follows relevant policy. Incorporate this expectation into the appropriate annual staff evaluation process.

5. Implement and evaluate the adequacy of the policy and effectiveness of staff in following the policy, provide staff training as needed, and provide yearly reports to the board on policy implementation and administrative effectiveness.

6. Finalize revisions to the Table of Organization to:

7. Communicate all organizational changes to all school district personnel.

8. Update all job descriptions for certified and classified personnel to reflect the criteria presented by the auditors (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover) and to reflect current district operations. Assure that the job descriptions include appropriate linkage to curriculum and instruction and that they match the organizational chart.

9. Provide in-services for administrators to develop their skills in monitoring the delivery of the written curriculum in the classroom and for evaluating the instructional staff with an emphasis on improving their instructional skills.

10. Monitor evaluations of administrative and instructional staff to ensure that they provide feedback to improve the delivery of instruction.

11. Develop and implement a plan to perform a cost/benefit analysis of district uses of Teachers on Special Assignment (TSAs). Focus the use of TSAs for observing and giving feedback to teachers, doing demonstration teaching, and conducting training for teachers and administrators.

1. All curriculum guides and course outlines

2. Interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, board members

3. Policies, administrative bulletins, and curriculum development documents

4. Documents related to curriculum planning

1. The auditors found curriculum management planning to be inadequate to guide the design and delivery of curriculum and instruction (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

2. The scope of the written curriculum is inadequate to provide local control of instruction (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

3. The curriculum guides that exist are inadequate in quality to drive instruction or improve student performance in Oakland Unified School District (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

1. Design a comprehensive curriculum management plan to include the following elements:

2. Establish and implement a curriculum review cycle that includes the design of curriculum guides:

3. Establish administrative regulations for developing, adopting, implementing and monitoring programs and interventions that are aligned to district priorities and student learning goals. Include the following elements:

4. Inventory and assess current programmatic efforts. Use the new screening process to assess programs and prioritize. Eliminate programs that are not positively impacting student achievement. Maintain a current list of programs and interventions. Design an ongoing staff development process for all stakeholders as an integral part of curriculum development, implementation, and assessment. Hold staff accountable for its implementation including monitoring of curriculum delivery by district and school administrators.

1. Budget documents

2. Board policies and bulletins

3. Business office procedures

4. District planning documents and fiscal audit reports

5. Interviews with board members, administrators, teachers, business office staff

6. Master schedules of classes

1. The auditors found the budget development and allocation process in the Oakland Unified School District to be inadequately linked to the curriculum. For the past several years, the district has been able to maintain a balanced budget (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover). However, the auditors found an absence of direct linkages among district goals and budget priorities, and no formal effort had been made to link student achievement or program performance feedback to budgetary decisions. The district uses a conventional budget process that is not driven by the curriculum.

2. An evaluation of the processes used to develop the 1999-2000 budget using six criteria of curriculum-driven budgeting revealed that the district was adequate in none of the criterisee CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

3. Honors courses are not distributed equally among schools based on the number of students serviced by the schools (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

4. Advance placement courses are not equally distributed among the schools according to percentage of students in attendance (see CCMAC Report, under separate cover).

5. Participation of various student groups in gifted and talented, AP, and honors courses is inequitable based on gender and ethnicity (see CCMAC Report).

6. Technology courses and other elective courses are inequitably distributed (see CCMAC Report).

7. Special education placements indicate that African Americans and males are overrepresented (see CCMAC Report).

8. African Americans are overrepresents as a group for suspensions, expulsions, and retentions (see CCMAC Report).

9. Schools receive varying degrees of financial support that cannot be explained within the context of equity (see CCMAC Report).

10. Schools with larger percentages of Caucasian students in general receive more money and experience fewer teachers with emergency credentials (see CCMAC Report).

1. Develop budget requests through analysis of basic instructional and support areas of the budget.

2. Initiate programmatic budgeting that includes the following steps:

3. Modify resource allocation and expenditure accounting systems so that all funds spent per pupil, at each school, can be readily determined. Further, direct that this information be incorporated into district decision-making processes and used regularly to identify and correct inequities in the flow of resources to schools and programs.

4. Revise allocation formulas that perpetuate the inequities identified in the CCMAC report.

5. Implement the provisions of Board Policy 1050, Philosophy and Goals of the Oakland Unified School District, including those related to educational equity for all students.

6. Direct the staff to implement the provisions of the Voluntary Resolution Plan according to the deadlines specified therein. Monitor the staff regularly to ensure that they meet those deadlines. Hold the staff accountable for meeting those deadlines through the personnel evaluation process.

7. Prohibit school-based decisions that cause inequities in course offerings, materials, and practices.

1. District policies and related procedures

2. Curriculum documents

3. Assessment procedures

4. Data regarding student assessment and program evaluations

5. Site observations

6. Interviews with district personnel, board members, and parents

1. The auditors found that no written comprehensive assessment plan to provide feedback for improving student achievement exists in the Oakland Unified School District. Moreover, the policies and documents presented indicate the district is deficient in all but two of the 20 characteristics of a comprehensive student assessment program (see CCMAC Report).

2. The scope of student assessment is inadequate to monitor student achievement. Only 51 percent of the subject areas taught are assessed, and the major areas tested are those where testing is required by the state.

3. The use of assessment data is ineffective in guiding decision-making (see CCMAC Report).

4. Assessment is inadequately aligned to curriculum to provide feedback for instructional decision-making (see CCMAC Report). The district has embarked upon a project of developing curriculum-embedded assessments (CEAs). However, due to the limited subject assessment (writing and reading) and implementation inconsistencies practiced across the district, current use of this assessment does not provide deeply aligned assessment necessary to provide feedback to improve instructional decision-making.

1. Design a comprehensive assessment and feedback plan that meets the 20 criteria of the audit (see CCMAC Report).

2. Require that cluster leaders monitor the training provided by principals on assessment at their respective school sites. The school testing committee should take the lead in providing training to other teachers on interpreting and using assessment data.

1. Board of education policies

2. Board of education agenda and minutes

3. Table of organization

4. Job descriptions

5. Staff evaluation instruments

6. Planning documents

7. Interviews with board members, administrators, teachers, other staff, and members of the community

1. Unstable leadership has compromised organizational effectiveness.

2. Nine superintendents have served the district since 1975. Since 1985 no superintendent has served for more than four years and seven months. Three of the nine individuals, including the current superintendent, were appointed on an interim basis.

3. Changes in focus and goals have made planning ineffective (see CCMAC Report).

4. Expectations for student achievement and departmental productivity have been low and vague (see CCMAC Report).

5. Employee evaluations and other accountability systems are not adequate to ensure improved teaching or learning (see CCMAC Report).

6. Decision-making and communications are often compromised by the politics of special interest groups. Auditors found few district decisions are linked to productivity. Student achievement data are not used to make important curricular, instructional, program, and budget decisions. Positions and programs are continued or expanded without evidence that student achievement is enhanced (see CCMAC Report).

7. Measurable goals do exist for the 1999-2000 school year. However, a district vision, mission, and clear expectations are lacking.

8. Administrators receive little feedback with regard to the effectiveness of classroom instruction and, consequently, have little data upon which to base improvement efforts.

1. Through news releases, planning documents, and other district communications, provide direction and support for establishing high expectation beliefs among staff and community members. Affirm the following:

2. Focus the role of principals, assistant principals and other educational administrators on high-quality curriculum and instruction, and monitor to ensure effectiveness.

3. Restructure system planning to provide aggressive action for improved student achievement.

1. Board policies and administrative regulations

2. Program documents

3. Observations of a variety of programs

4. Interviews with district personnel, parents, and board members

5. Surveys completed by campus principals

6. Assessment procedures

7. Data regarding the student assessment

1. Assessment is inadequately aligned to curriculum to provide feedback for instructional decision-making. The district has initiated curriculum-embedded assessment (CEAs) as a means of aligning classroom instruction with assessment. However, it is limited in its scope and unevenly administered.

2. District pressure to increase SAT-9 scores results in unofficial adoption of test preparation curriculum, such as "Test Ready," as the core of instruction in some schools.

3. Administrators have found the SAT-9 is not well aligned with the state standards and, consequently, presents a dilemma for those leaders attempting to implement a well-aligned curriculum.

4. A review of testing reports reveal that Oakland test scores have been uniformly below state and national averages; moreover, performance gaps by race and poverty exist.

1. Develop district assessment tools that are clearly aligned with the written and taught curriculum (see "Recommendations and Recovery Steps," Professional Standard PA 1.4 above).

2. Develop guidelines for administrator and teacher use of the data.

1. Staff development documents

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. District goals for 1999-2000

4. School-based planning documents

5. District-level planning and organizational documents

6. The OCR Voluntary Resolution Plan

7. The Literacy Plan

8. Various staff development evaluation documents

9. Interviews with district and school administrators, various staff members, and classroom teacher representatives

1. Historically, staff development in the Oakland Unified School District has been limited primarily to teachers.

2. Staff development has not been systematically planned on a long-range or system-wide basis.

3. Schools have not consistently linked their in-service sessions to district and school priorities.

4. Literacy, curriculum-embedded assessment, and efficacy training components have comprised the core of districtwide staff development, along with training required through the voluntary resolution.

5. Some high-quality staff development efforts have been thwarted by ineffective implementation and lack of resources. Analysis of the district staff development activities reveal that only three of the CCMAC criteria for comprehensive staff development planning have been met (see CCMAC Report).

6. School district leaders are in the initial steps of attempts to improve the identified conditions.

1. Adopt a policy requiring a centralized staff development function, coordination system-wide of all professional development and training activities, and comprehensive staff development planning for two to four years (with annual updates) to direct successful implementation of district programs and attainment of system-wide and school goals.

2. Design a comprehensive staff development plan. Include specific strategies to address needs of year-round staff configurations, the need to keep new staff updated in areas of district training, and to ensure school administrator competencies to guide and direct staff implementation of learning from professional development and in-service training.

3. Continue implementation of the Curriculum and Instruction Redesign with the following changes or refinements:

1. Staff development documents

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. School visitation observations

4. Interviews of principals, teachers, parents, and central office staff

1 Staff development plans are not focused on district or school priorities, leaving faculty without clear direction or understanding of purpose (see CCMAC Report).

2 The district lacks an adequate policy directing staff development efforts.

3 The auditors found no plan that provides a framework for integrating innovations related to the mission of the district.

4 Staff development activities are built without a long-range planning approach.

5 Staff development in the Oakland Unified School District is not yet sufficiently coordinated among divisions and across the district, or planned over reasonably long periods of time to ensure effective implementation and achieve institutionalization of the intended learning (see CCMAC Report).

1. Carefully design the comprehensive staff development program in the district to clearly support the purposes and mission of the district (see "Recommendations and Recovery Steps," Professional Standard PA 1.7 above).

2. Focus teacher professional development on acquisition of basic teaching skills and on providing quality instruction to all students regardless of their ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status.

3. Focus principal staff development on coaching, evaluating and monitoring teacher performance, analyzing classroom instruction, and collaborating with teachers to identify strengths and areas of improvement.

4. Require a written evaluation of the effectiveness of staff development activities to determine if the programs are having the intended effect on student achievement.

5. Include an examination of classroom changes that have a positive impact on student achievement as a portion of the evaluation of staff development programs.

1. Administrative bulletin 8020: Teacher Evaluation Procedures

2. Focus on 1999-2000

3. The Manual for Administrator Appraisal / Evaluation

4. Agreement between the Oakland Unified School District and the Oakland Education Association?Teacher Evaluation Handbook

5. The certificated observation form

6. The evaluation report for certificated employees?form A

7. Work policies

8. A 10 percent random sample of administrator evaluations

9. A 10 percent random sample of teacher evaluations

10. Interviews with employees and supervisors.

1. On 172 (93.5 percent) of 184 randomly selected evaluations of tenured teachers, individuals evaluated were rated as "Meeting District Standards" on all five of the performance categories. Only 12 (6.5 percent) of the evaluations included ratings of "Needs to Improve" or "Not Meeting District Standards." Only 2 (1.1 percent) included a rating of "Not Meeting District Standards."

2. On 118 (90.1 percent) of 131 evaluations of nontenured teachers sampled, individuals evaluated were rated as "Meeting District Standards" on all five performance categories. Only 13 (9.9 percent) of the evaluations included ratings of "Needs to Improve," and none included ratings of "Not Meeting District Standards."

3. Only 7 of 131 nontenured teachers received suggestions for improvement.

4. None of the 26 administrator evaluations sampled included suggestions for improvement, although there were comments indicating that suggestions may have been included on another document.

5. Auditors found an inconsistency between the achievement of students and the assessments made by principals of the performance of classroom teachers. Evaluations indicate the building principals rate the performance of teachers at high levels; however, data on student achievement and the auditors’ snapshot of classroom observations do not support this conclusion (see CCMAC Report).

6. Evaluations do not accomplish the primary purpose of teacher evaluation as identified in administrative bulletin 8020.

1 Revise the teacher evaluation system to align evaluation criteria with the student assessment system so that teachers’ efforts are evaluated in light of their performance in the district’s curriculum.

2 Hold principals accountable for high-quality curriculum monitoring, instructional supervision, assessment, and evaluation of staff.

1. Work policies

2. Administrative bulletins

3. Curriculum guides

4. Other curriculum-related documents

5. California Standards for the Teaching Profession

6. California education code

7. The 1999-2000 New Teacher Resource Manual

8. Classroom visitations to nearly all classrooms in the district (over 1400 classrooms)

9. Interviews with teachers, principals, and parents

10. School-level site plans

1. During classroom visits, the auditors found the predominance of activities to be limited in variety and passive in nature (see CCMAC Report).

2. Active engagement of students was observed in 294 classrooms (21%).

1. Fully implement the staff development plan elements laid out under Professional Standards PA1.7 and PA1.8 above.

1. Student test data summaries and reports

2. Two years of Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-9) aggregate and disaggregate data for grades 2-11

3. One year of SABE Achievement Test data in reading, language, and mathematics

4. Four years of Golden State Examination data in areas commonly assessed in the Oakland Unified School District

5. Four years of advanced placement data in areas commonly assessed in the Oakland Unified School District

6. Five years of American College Test (ACT) composite test data

7. Five years of disaggregated, Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) total-score data

8. Average GPA for students enrolled in courses required for admission into UC

9. Interviews with faculty, administrators, board members, parents

10. Board policies and administrative bulletins pertaining to student assessment.

1. The present scope of the assessed curriculum seriously limits the ability of the Oakland Unified School District to determine whether students are gainfully engaged in learning (see CCMAC Report).

2. The district has considerable data but lacks a systematic plan for using information (see CCMAC Report).

3. Student testing is inadequately aligned to the curriculum to provide feedback (see CCMAC Report).

4. The student assessment program of the district does not provide students an opportunity to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and skills (see CCMAC Report).

1. Design and implement a comprehensive district assessment program that allows students to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and skills (see "Recommendations and Recovery Steps" for Professional Standard PA 1.4 above).

1. California Standards for the Teaching Profession

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins concerning classroom instruction

3. Interviews with principals, teachers, parents, and central office staff

4. New Teacher Resource Manual

5. Local Oakland Unified School District Content Standards (1999)

1. References in official district documents suggest a commitment to the use of varied strategies and to active, higher-level student engagement in the learning process.

2. Administrative bulletin 5050 directs teachers to "present all important aspects of socioeconomic and political systems and issues so that students have practice under guidance in the processes of critical reading, thinking, and evaluating."

3. Administrative employee accountability worksheet directs supervisors to monitor instructional goals and encourage "the use of a variety of learning activities and strategies."

4. The Oakland Unified District Content Standards include action verbs and student goals such as compose, create, explore, investigate, analyze, hypothesize, debate, predict, graphically organize and summarize.

5. Characteristics of exemplary middle schools listed in a district conference program include "a curriculum balance between cognitive and affective needs of young, adolescent students …teachers who use varied strategies."

6. Teaching practices observed in the classroom are inconsistent with the state standards and do not support high student achievement.

7. California Standards for the Teaching Profession developed by the California Commission on teacher credentialing and the California Department of Education are not present nor supported in district procedures and practices (see CCMAC Report).

1. Develop and adopt policies supporting the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (in particular, the standard entitled "Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning").

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Classroom visitations

3. Curriculum documents

4. Interviews with board members, central office staff, principals, teachers, and parents

1. Auditors found evidence that most teachers failed to use a variety of instructional strategies to address diverse student needs (see CCMAC Report).

2. Auditors found minimal districtwide staff development direction for the support of teacher in the implementation of varied and higher-level strategies (see CCMAC Report).

3. In over 1400 classrooms visited, the majority of instructional activities observed were passive in nature with limited variation in teacher methodology. Instructional technology was infrequently used (see CCMAC Report).

4. Efforts to integrate instruction across the curriculum were not in evidence (see CCMAC Report).

5. Inequities related to students with a variety of special needs were identified by the auditors (see CCMAC Report).

1 Develop and adopt policy that includes a definition of equity and specifies data required by the board to monitor performance.

2. Incorporate strategies for meeting the needs of diverse students while focusing on testing feedback discrepancies.

3. Budget instructional resources to address the diverse needs of a unique student population.

4. Identify roles and responsibilities among faculty and administrators pertaining to equity and codify these in regulations.

5. Include in the district’s curriculum guides a variety of approaches and strategies for teaching each of the objectives prescribed by the district.

6. Use appropriate data to direct instructional modifications and adjustments.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins.

2. Program documents

3. Observations of a variety of programs

4. Interviews of district personnel, parents, and board members

5. Program surveys completed by campus principals (programs were reviewed to determine if they were connected to the core curriculum, linked together, selected on the basis of student achievement results, and were evaluated)

1. Auditors did not find a comprehensive curriculum management plan. However, several components of such a plan were found in various documents. Board policies to direct curriculum and instruction were found deficient (see CCMAC Report). The Voluntary Resolution Plan with the office of civil rights provides some guidance but does not constitute an ongoing, comprehensive curriculum plan.

2. A goal established for the division of curriculum and instruction (August 1999) was used to establish a curriculum design, delivery, and accountability system in the future.

3. No long-range plan exists to guide the district’s progress over a multi-year period. The mission of the district is not articulated in planning documents (see CCMAC Report).

4. No districtwide staff development plan exists, and no staff members are assigned responsibility for district staff development planning (see CCMAC Report).

5. No comprehensive plan exists for student and program assessment (see CCMAC Report.

6. The plan for use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning has been ineffectively implemented (see CCMAC Report).

7. Although California standards emphasize integration across disciplines, there was little evidence of a district effort in that direction (see CCMAC Report).

8. The programs to deliver the curriculum lack adequate alignment and cohesiveness. Programs were numerous, unrelated to each other, and lacking evaluation procedures (see CCMAC Report).

1. Develop a curriculum management system that provides for challenging learning goals and instructional plans for all students.

2. Recommend time allocations that reflect district priorities. Those recommendations need to be presented as flexible guidelines, not as mandates. They need to be identified as recommended time allocations.

3. Once student outcomes are identified, an alignment with existing curriculum development efforts will be necessary. These expectations will drive the curriculum and be the criteria for inclusion, exclusion, and modification decisions. Therefore, connectivity from one level to another is critical. The development and revision of the local curriculum is a critical responsibility for any school system attempting to upgrade standards and focus on curriculum continuity between individual schools and programs.

1. Test data compilations

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. Interviews with board members, staff, and community

1. Auditors found no available policy establishing distinct linkage between the written, tested, and taught curriculum (see CCMAC Report).

2. No comprehensive assessment plan is available to guide the process of data collection and/or data use (see CCMAC Report).

3. At the middle-school level the Curriculum-Embedded Assessment serves as a mechanism for monitoring middle-school student progress toward mastering the integrated standards found in selected English/language arts and history/social science standards. However, no systematic analysis of curriculum-embedded assessment collected in individual schools has occurred.

4. Despite a preponderance of available assessment data, the actual use of data to improve learning opportunities is ineffective.

5. The Oakland Unified School District’s Research and Evaluation Division has generated assessment reports spanning several years with data disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and language proficiency. Despite this preponderance of data, much of the planning and decision-making focuses on student performance on the SAT-9.

6. Several staff and parent surveys are routinely conducted, but there was no evidence that major changes have been influenced by them.

7. Plans also concentrate on responding to complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, against the Oakland Unified School District in 1993 (see CCMAC Report).

1. Develop policies that establish a framework for a comprehensive program of assessment that sets forth a purpose, scope, and direction for assessment for all grades and subject areas.

2. Implement the "Recommendations and Recovery Steps" described in Professional Standard PA1.4 above with an emphasis on utilization of the assessment information to improve learning opportunities for all students.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Curriculum guides

3. Interviews with staff, parents, and community members

4. Site visits and observations

5. Voluntary Resolution Plan

1. The auditors found that the curriculum in the Oakland Unified School District was not sufficiently articulated or coordinated across the district to support a common vision. Specifically, the design of the curriculum lacks appropriate connections within existing curriculum documents (see CCMAC Report).

2. Auditors concluded that, although there is a framework intended to support articulation and coordination in both design and delivery of the curriculum, results of these efforts are not yet effective. At present, there is not an assured continuity of learning within grade levels, between schools, and through the grade levels (see CCMAC Report).

3. The scope of the district’s curriculum guides is inadequate to direct instruction (see CCMAC Report).

4. Curriculum guides in the Oakland Unified School District vary in quality and are generally inadequate to guide teaching (see CCMAC Report).

1. Develop and implement a comprehensive curriculum management system with aligned and articulated curriculum guides that establish challenging student learning and a vision of excellence for the district (see Professional Standards PA1.2, PA1.3, and PA1.4 above).

2. Ensure adequate support for the curriculum management system to be implemented in such a way that the intended articulation and coordination can be achieved.

3. Establish a common procedure for program directors and principals to ensure congruence of programs and activities with adopted curricula, and identify priorities of actions in the context of current goals and initiatives. Train principals in how to use classroom walk-through to support these efforts.

4. Complete content standards in science and social science as well as other areas of the curriculum. Present to the board of education for adoption performance standards that would clearly articulate what students should be able to know and do.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Curriculum documents

3. Interviews with board members, central office staff, principals, teachers and community members.

1. A review of alignment among state standards and curriculum guides submitted showed them to be consistent in their stated objectives. The guides presented are modified versions directly drawn from the state.

2. The guides were incomplete in that they did not align with district assessment, nor did they indicate resources, prerequisites, or instructional strategies.

3. The inadequacy of the curriculum guides hinders interaction with other similar programs and grade levels as well as articulation from one program or grade level to another. A common vision is not present. (see CCMAC Report)

1. Establish an expectation that there will be clear linkages among the district’s vision, the board goals, the district goals, and program goals.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Interviews with central office administrators, principals, teachers, and community members

1. The Research Department distributed the standards to all schools.

2. Twelve schools were identified and encouraged to submit applications.

3. The Curriculum and Instruction Division staff is working with the twelve schools to help them complete sections of the application.

4. According to one top-level administrator, "We don’t promote the program. Some schools don’t have time to do this."

1. Require all elementary schools in the district to embrace the California School Recognition Program Standards.

2. Direct elementary principals to analyze the status of their schools relative to the standards of the California School Recognition Program.

3. Assist qualified schools with the development of the state application for the Recognition Program.

1. Interviews with central office administrators, principals, and teachers

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

1. The district collaborates with St. Mary’s College, JFK University, Cal State University Hayward, Holy Names College to provide in-district and on-site classes for beginning teachers as part of the BTSA program.

2. A partnership with Cal State University Hayward allows 200 teachers to earn their credential through an intern teaching program. A similar program with Patten University trains another 50 intern teachers.

3. The Oakland Unified School District is a participant in "Project Pipeline," an internship teaching program in cooperation with several Bay Area colleges.

4. Oakland works with UC Berkeley to implement "The Berkeley Pledge." The program provides tutors, assistance to teachers, and waives fees for summer workshops. Oakland administrators also participate in the "Oakland Education Cabinet" which includes most of the institutions of higher education in the area.

1. Continue to support the existing partnerships with state colleges and universities to provide courses accessible to all Oakland teachers.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Interviews with central office administrators, principals, teachers

1. Most elementary and high schools in the district have been allocated site-based literature coaches to provide coaching on literacy strategies. Some of the coaches are full-time; most are part-time.

2. Auditors found no evidence that the district had a system in place to effectively identify and improve employee performance. The employee evaluation systems were found to be ineffective (see CCMAC Report).

3. The auditors found no staff development plan or mission in the district, and board policy does not require staff development planning.

4. The auditors found no consensus among principals concerning their roles in supporting and coaching their staffs. When asked about administrative support and coaching, principals tended to defer to the staff development office or the cluster leaders. Only a few principals mentioned trying to help their teachers identify teaching weaknesses and seeking training to help them improve in those areas (see CCMAC Report).

1. Implement the Recommendations and Recovery Steps listed above under Professional Standard PA1.7.

2. Design the district’s comprehensive staff development plan with a continued focus on the development of principals and assistant principals as leaders/developers with their staffs, along with site coaching to provide on-site access to the follow-up support of training.

3. Focus site-based administrator evaluation on the role of providing administrative support and coaching to all teachers.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Personnel evaluation record forms and records

3. Interviews with board members, central office administrators, principals, and teachers

1. The auditors found a dysfunctional personnel evaluation system in the Oakland Unified School District (see CCMAC Report).

2. The auditors were presented no evidence that professional development is linked to personnel evaluation (see CCMAC Report).

1. Include links to the evaluation process in the district’s program of professional development.

2. Include the link to performance evaluation prominently in the planning documents for the district’s staff development program (see Recommendations and Recovery Steps for PA1.7 and PA 1.8 above).

3. Include the link to staff development prominently in the documentation and planning for improved employee evaluation system (see Recommendations and Recovery Steps for PA1.9 above).

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Interviews with central office administrators, principals, and teachers

3. Various program descriptions

1. The Oakland Unified School District maintains numerous partnerships and other collaborations with higher education (see Findings for PA1.19 above).

2. In collaboration with the Association of California School Administrators and the University of California at Berkeley, the Oakland administration has organized a principal’s academy for the Oakland principals. UC Extension will be the fiscal agent, and full tier two credit will be allowed for the planned activities.

3. A similar collaboration with the Association of California School Administrators and the University of California for aspiring administrators is on the drawing board.

4. The district participates in the UC Lawrence Hall of Science project, ACCESS, for professional development in science and math.

5. Oakland is a full participant in the Bay Area Writing Project. Oakland trains more than thirty teachers every summer.

6. The district is also participating with UC Berkeley in the Interactive University Project, now entering its second phase.

1. Continue developing collaborations between institutes of higher education, professional associations, and the community to provide professional development for the staff.

2. Explore further the resources of the community to provide additional staff development resources.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Interviews with central office administrators, board members, principals, teachers, parents, and community members

3. Review of placement documents, master schedules, enrollment reports

1. The auditors found that the delivery of educational programs does not provide equal access to resources or equitable learning opportunities for needy students (see CCMAC Report).

2. Honors courses in the district are not distributed equally among schools based on the number of students serviced by the schools (see CCMAC Report).

3. AP courses in the district’s high schools are not distributed equally according to percentage of students in attendance.

4. African Americans and Hispanics were underrepresented in honors courses, AP courses, and gifted and talented courses.

5. African Americans and males are overrepresented in special education programs.

6. Oakland School District LEP population is increasing, while the rate of redesignation has been decreasing. In 1997-98, less than one percent of the LEP students in the Oakland Unified School District were redesignated to fluent-English proficient. The district is not closing the gap between the percentage of students redesignated statewide (6.87 percent in 1997-98).

7. The recommendations of the African American Task Force established by the board recommended that the percentage of African Americans in special education be reduced. The board adopted the recommendation in 1997, and the percentage of African Americans in special education is now declining.

8. The Voluntary Resolution Plan directed the district to balance the AP courses. Consequently, the district broadened its criteria in spring 1999. Administrators expect the distribution to change in the future. Administrators were in agreement that the genesis of the problem lay in the tracking practices of the past.

1. Implement the Recommendations and Recovery Steps described under Professional Standard PA1.3 above.

2. Revise allocation formulas that perpetuate the inequities identified in the CCMAC Report (see CCMAC Report).

3. Implement the provisions of board policy relating to educational equity for all students (see Board Policy 1050, Philosophy and Goals of the Oakland Unified School District).

4. Hold staff accountable for meeting the deadlines and implementing provision of the Voluntary Resolution Plan.

5. Review site decisions relative to course offerings to prevent inequities in offerings and practices.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Guidelines for parents

3. Student handbook

4. Interviews with district administrators, principals, teachers, parents, and community members

1. The district administration provides the school, parents, students, and community with information regarding school discipline, dress codes, uniforms, and other practices relating to discipline.

2. The board has established clear suspension and expulsion guidelines through its adopted policies and administrative bulletins.

3. The school board has appointed a suspension task force to review disciplinary procedures in light of the disproportionate number of African Americans who are suspended. A report is expected to go the board of education during the spring semester.

1. Continue to define and enforce student discipline and communicate discipline standards to all stakeholders.

2. Continue to review disciplinary policies and procedures for the purpose of eliminating inequitable placement of students based on race or gender.

3. Expand intervention efforts aimed at at-risk students.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Visitations to classrooms

3. Budget documents

4. Interviews with district office administrators, board members, principals, teachers, and parents

1. The policy of the Oakland Unified School District is to provide every classroom with sets of textbooks for student use, however parents and teachers have stated that textbooks are not accessible to all students.

2. At schools with high student turnover, the book loss is high. In these schools, teachers frequently refuse to allow books to be taken home. In some cases, double sets have been requested so that books can be taken home while guaranteeing that they are available for classroom activities.

3. According to district administrators, whenever a shortage of books emerges, the Curriculum and Instruction Division will place an emergency order.

4. The district provides Spanish language materials for Spanish speaking students and families, and accommodations are made for other limited or non-English speaking students and families.

1. Continue district efforts to ensure that all instructional materials are accessible to all students.

2. Continue district efforts to provide special materials for students with limited English speaking capabilities.

3. Provide every student access to textbooks to take home, when appropriate.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Classroom visitations and observations

3. Interviews with district office administrators, students, teachers, principals, and board members

4. The Technology Action Plan, 1995

5. Draft of Strategic Plan for Technology in Oakland Schools

6. Board of Education Curriculum and Technology Committee Agenda

7. Site Technology Use Plan (STUP)

8. Guidebook for Developing Effective Instructional Technology Plan, 1996

9. Professional Development Library Information Packet

10. 1999-2000 Instructional Technology Action Plans

11. Assistive Technology Plan, Oakland Schools, 1997-2000

1. The auditors’ assessment of the Oakland Unified School District’s Instructional Technology Program found it to be inadequate as follows (see CCMAC Report):

2. Technology planning documents are inadequate to impact student achievement (see CCMAC Report).

3. The technology planning documents are inadequate to guide the integration of technology into the classroom (see CCMAC Report).

4. The allocation of technological resources is not consistent with technology goals and program evaluation data (see CCMAC Report).

1. Implement a curriculum-driven technology plan aligned to technology resources and staff development.

2. Ensure districtwide effective supervision and consistent improvement of technology curriculum integration.

3. Ensure that the director of technology services exerts strong leadership in directing and communicating cohesive expectations, guidelines, and resources for technology integration.

4. Ensure that all school principals and site technicians are trained in current mentoring and coaching skills required for technology implementation and program monitoring.

5. Establish goals with school administrators for creating a structure for adequate technology monitoring through teacher planning documents, visitation reports, and staff development activities.

6. Mandate that school improvement plans, teacher personnel evaluations, and teacher professional growth plans include components of technology skill development and classroom technology improvement.

7. Establish criteria linking administrative evaluations to technology monitoring and implementation practices. Provide clear, consistent interpretation of the criteria. Expect all central office and school administrators to adhere to expectations for technology monitoring and implementation.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Planning documents (see CCMAC Report)

1. Changes in focus and goals as a result of frequent changes in district leadership have made planning efforts in the district ineffective (see CCMAC Report).

2. Measurable goals do exist for the 1999-2000 school year. However, a district vision, mission, and clear expectations are missing.

1. Implement the Recommendations and Recovery Steps presented under Professional Standard PA1.5 above.

2. Devise an umbrella long-range planning process for board adoption. This process should guide all planning efforts in the district and should comply with the eleven criteria provided in CCMAC Report, Exhibit 1.4.2.

3. Provide bimonthly reports to the board on planning activities and their results as they pertain to quality of planning and attainment of district goals and objectives.

4. Establish one mission for the district. School site, committees, task forces, and departments should establish goals toward reaching that mission. Every goal is to have measurable outcomes that can be used to assess short-range and long-range accomplishments toward the mission.

5. Develop a planning process that meets the 11 criteria in CCMAC Report, under separate cover. Use the assistance of external consultants as needed.

6. Inform all staff members of their responsibilities in monitoring the plan and making progress reports to the board.

7. Provide training for all administrators and key instructional staff members pertaining to:

8. Appoint a task force to incorporate all existing plans, grants, and endeavors in the district into one long-rage district plan. Ascertain that this plan matches and meets the mission. Eliminate any practices that conflict with or "drain resources" from the mission and strategic goals of the district.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Negotiated contracts

3. Teacher absentee summary reports

4. CBEDS credential verification reports

5. Newspaper articles

6. Interviews with board members, district office administrators, teachers, parents, and community representatives

1. Auditors found the functioning of the Human Resources Division of the Oakland Unified School District to be characterized by inefficiency and disorganization (see CCMAC Report).

2. Communications between major divisions of the district office and the Human Resources Division are poor (see CCMAC Report).

3. Communications between the Human Resources Division and the sites is poor, resulting in staffing difficulties that impact instruction.

4. The district lacks a systematic approach to management of its human resources to increase and retain fully credentialed faculty. This failure has resulted in high district rates of teacher turnover.

5. The district lacks a recruiting and hiring process that will provide qualified staff.

6. Large numbers of new and temporarily credentialed teachers staff the schools, especially in the inner city areas of the district.

7. Practices governing the assignment of faculty have resulted in a large number of inexperienced teachers assigned to schools with largely African American populations (see CCMAC Report).

8. High teacher absenteeism hinders district productivity and negatively impacts staff development opportunities.

1. Form a board task force composed of district stakeholders to draft strategic goal statements to address the issues of teacher absenteeism, turnover rate, credentials and the Human Resource Division.

2. Incorporate task force strategic goals and objectives in the Oakland Unified School District Strategic Goals document.

3. Establish goals and objectives for the Human Resources Division that address the issues of teacher absenteeism, turnover, and credentials, as well as the other malfunctions described above.

4. Require systematic data collection, interpretation, and use of information regarding issues utilizing the following data sources:

5. Develop action plans to address the issues of teacher turnover, absenteeism, and credentials.

6. Create an organization decision-making structure enabling the Human Resources Division to be directly involved in the decision-making processes related to goals and objectives.

7. Retain a collective bargaining consultant to address contractual impediments to goals and objectives.

8. Hold the Director of Human Resources accountable for consistent monitoring of goal implementation strategies.

1. Health curriculum guides

2. Interviews with district office administrators, principals, and teachers

3. Education Code 51202.5

4. Board policies and administrative bulletins

1. The health curriculum materials presented to the auditors contained no curriculum for AIDS prevention instruction at either the middle school or the high school levels.

2. District level administrators informed auditors that the schools did not teach the AIDS prevention curriculum as required by EC51202.5.

1. Design and implement and AIDS prevention curriculum for the middle schools and high schools as directed by EC51201.5.

2. Design and implement program assessment instruments to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Student Success Guide

3. Interviews with district office administrators, principals, teachers, and parents

4. Annual assessment calendar

1. All high school students in the Oakland Unified School District are provided with a booklet entitled Student Success Guide, which provides full information concerning the students’ option to take the California High School Proficiency Examination.

2. The district administration does not coordinate any notification efforts other than the distribution of the Student Success Guide.

3. The district notifies eleventh and twelfth graders through distribution of a published assessment calendar.

1. Continue the practice of providing students and parents with a full description of the California High School Proficiency Examination option each year.

2. Codify the procedures in an administrative bulletin.

Class time is protected for student learning (EC32212).

1. Interviews with district office administrators, principals, and teachers

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. Class visitations

1. The auditors found no policies or administrative bulletins guiding the protection of class time for student learning.

2. District administrators testified that the sites had received no direction from the district to set in place administrative measures to protect class time for student learning.

3. Auditors reported no undue class interruptions.

1. Develop board policies and administrative bulletins that institutionalize practices protecting class time for student learning.

1. Testimony from district office administrators

2. Coordinated Compliance Review

1. The Oakland Unified School District received a satisfactory report of the Coordinated Compliance Review with no Findings of supplantation.

2. The auditors learned that the Oakland Unified School District attempts to coordinate with all divisions to assure no supplanting of services or materials takes place.

1. Continue to monitor and control categorical and compensatory program funds to ensure that they supplement and do not supplant services and materials to be provided by the district.

2. Continue to implement the Voluntary Resolution Plan.

3. Address the recommendations stated in the financial section of this report regarding supplanting of categorical funds.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Interviews with district administrators, principals, and teachers

3. District job postings and applications for employment

1. The Oakland Unified School District administers an examination covering the areas of English, reading, and math for all applicants for the position of instructional aide.

1. Course outlines and curriculum guides

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. Letters from the State Department of Education Consolidated Compliance Review Office

4. Interviews with district office administrators and principals

1. The Oakland Unified School District’s compliance with the provisions of the Education Code varies from code section to code section. Noncompliance has been noted throughout the formal CCMAC Audit Report as well as this document. Generally, the curricular mandates of the Education Code sections 51000-51950 are observed, as are the code sections concerning diplomas, class size, patriotic exercises, and so forth.

2. The School-Based Program Coordination Act is supported by the district’s site-based management operations.

1. Continue efforts to comply with the mandates of EC51000-52950.

2. Increase efforts to eliminate inequities in the district based on race and gender. Implement the plan outlined under Professional Standard 1.23 above.

All incoming kindergarten students will be admitted following board-approved policies and administrative regulations (EC48000-48002, 48010, 498011).

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Testimony from district-level administrators

3. Interviews with school principals

4. Interviews with parents

1. The school board has thorough policies governing the admission of kindergarten students (5020, 5031, 5032, and 5033).

2. District-level administrators and principals testified that the district complies with the Education Code and the district policies.

3. Letters, fliers, and forms are distributed to parents.

4. Local newspapers are notified.

1. Interviews with district office administrators

2. Board Policies and Administrative Bulletins

3. Interviews with principals, teachers, and parents

1. The district informs parents of their students’ SAT-9 test scores. This information is accompanied by a general explanation.

2. Districtwide curriculum-embedded assessment scores are shared with parents during parent conferences.

3. The district is in compliance with EC60720 and 60722.

1. Test data compilations

2. Board policies and administrative bulletins

3. Interviews with board members, district administrators, principals, and teachers

1. The auditors found no policy or administrative bulletin establishing accountability for student results using evaluative information (see CCMAC Report).

2. The district lacks a comprehensive assessment plan to guide the process of data collection and/or data use (see CCMAC Report).

3. Despite a preponderance of available assessment data, the use of these data are ineffective to prove learning opportunities.

4. The budget development and allocation process in the Oakland Unified School District is not linked to student achievement or program performance feedback (see CCMAC Report).

5. Assessment data is not used effectively for program improvement (see CCMAC Report).

1. Implement the plan described in the Recommendations and Recovery Steps for Professional Standard PA1.4 above with an emphasis on using the assessment information to improve learning opportunities and assure the maximum educational opportunity for all students.

2. Allocate funds to permit employment of a full range of valid and reliable assessment strategies required to support a comprehensive student and program evaluation system.

3. Design and implement a staff development plan to help teachers understand and use best practices in assessment, and align evaluation criteria to learning goals and objectives.

4. Provide training for administrators in using assessment data to improve learning opportunities for students.

5. Implement the Recommendations and Recovery Steps in Professional Standard PA.3 above linking budget decisions with feedback on student performance.

1. Board policies and administrative bulletins

2. Curriculum documents

3. Assessment procedures

4. Data regarding student assessment and program evaluations

5. Site visitations

6. Interviews with district office administrators, principals, teachers, and parents

1. Presently, the district administers tests assessing only 51 percent of the total curriculum.

2. The use of assessment data in the Oakland Unified School District is ineffective for guiding decision-making (see CCMAC Report).

3. The district lacks a comprehensive assessment plan to provide feedback for improving student achievement. The district is deficient in all but two of the twenty characteristics of a comprehensive student assessment program (see CCMAC Report).

4. The assessment that exists in the district is inadequately aligned to curriculum to provide feedback for instructional decision-making (see CCMAC Report).

5. The district has embarked upon a project of developing curriculum-embedded assessments (CEAs). However, current use of this assessment does not provide deeply aligned assessment necessary to provide feedback to improve instructional decision-making.

6. Elementary school teachers commonly keep a portfolio to support the observations made in the district’s new report card. All teachers were trained last year in using the new report card system. Teachers new to the district this year are provided a video. No system-wide process for collecting the data from the portfolios or for passing the portfolios forward each year exists.

1. Design and implement board policies and administrative bulletins that establish a framework for student assessment, and set forth a purpose, scope, and direction for assessment for all grade levels and subject areas.

2. Design a comprehensive assessment and feedback plan that meets the twenty criteria of the audit (see CCMAC Report).

3. Include a requirement for the use of qualitative and quantitative data in developing and implementing school improvement plans, designing and delivering instruction, and providing staff development at all levels.

4. Allocate funds to permit employment of the full range of valid and reliable assessment strategies required to support a comprehensive student and program evaluation system.

5. Ensure alignment of assessment goals with classroom practices.

6. Devise procedures for managing student portfolios and for collecting data concerning student progress from those portfolios.

7. Ensure that proposed student exit outcomes can be achieved based on the curriculum.

8. Create a staff development plan for administrators and teachers to:

a. Understand and use best practices in assessment.

b. Align evaluation criteria to learning goals and objectives.

c. Monitor and catalog teacher and administrator in-service activities.

9. Provide training in student assessment for administrators.

10. Implement full assessment plan outlined under Recommendations and Recovery Steps for Professional Standard PA1.4.