Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), in collaboration with a consortium of community and university partners, will improve high school students' academic achievement in social studies and language arts through the system-wide implementation of Urban Dreams, an innovative, standards-based and technology-embedded reform program that engages students, teachers, parents and other community members. Building upon research in best practices for teaching and learning as well as for community engagement, the Urban Dreams Technology Integration Program relies heavily upon:
 | New pedagogical and learning approaches as the basis for its Student Project
Based Research Investigations component;
| An ongoing 5-year Professional Development Program with recognized
historians and literary scholars as instructors, peer support models (i.e.,
professional dialogue circles and peer coaching) for more reflective practice
and implementation of new skills and information, and creative distance learning
and teaching opportunities,
| Consistent and progressive parent and community education. | |
The Urban Dreams project utilizes quantitative and qualitative measures to document the district's reform process, assess the consortium's progress toward meeting goals and objectives while subsequently providing ongoing evaluative information for program refinement. Urban Dreams addresses the academic and career needs of more than 11,000 urban secondary students in Oakland's ethnically and linguistically diverse community while concurrently building the district's capacity to sustain project outcomes through a more skilled teaching force, and a more engaged parent-community partnership.
The project seeks to enrich teaching and learning in English and History classrooms by linking the study of literature with the study of history. Through its partnership with the Bay Area Writing Project Urban Dreams will provide professional development in reading and writing in the English and Social Studies content areas.
The project seeks to enrich teaching and learning in English and History classrooms by linking the study of literature with the study of history. Through its partnership with the Bay Area Writing Project Urban Dreams will provide professional development in reading and writing in the English and Social Studies content areas.
Curriculum embedded technologies integrated into teaching practices and content delivery result in significant gains in Language Arts and Social Studies Achievement for Oakland Unified School District high school students.
Objectives
1.1 Student Achievement
By June of 2002, Oakland high school graduates who have participated in the Technology Integration Program for three years will demonstrate statistically significant (p<.05) pre and posttest gains in district, state and national performance standards in social studies and language arts as prescribed by NESIC and the California Frameworks Committees, and/or as measured in district and state assessments, including but not limited to the state-prescribed standardized assessment (Stanford Achievement Test 9).
Progress: Urban Dreams project staff continues to lay the groundwork leading to the achievement of this objective, and its ultimate goal of increasing student academic achievement. Project staff has been hired and includes the Project Director, two Teachers on Special Assignment, Parent/Community Coordinator, Program Assistant, and Project Clerk. An external evaluator is also under contract to oversee the evaluation and assist with the data management process.
Project staff and the evaluation team have participated in all of the required director's, evaluator's, and regional meetings sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
| 8/15-8/18/99----Evaluation Institute-Michigan |
| 9/1-9/3/99--------Director's Meeting, Washington, D.C. |
| 11/4-6/99---------Western Regional Cluster Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah |
| 4/2-4/6/00--------Director's Meeting/Cluster Meeting |
In the fall, project staff and the evaluation team, worked collectively to develop an extensive causal map that stemmed from a series of Input, Process, and Output (IPO) statements. This process allowed project staff to articulate project goals, objectives, and activities, as relevant to the four main components of Urban Dreams: 1) Standards Based Curriculum supported by Technology; 2) Professional Development; 3) Parent/Community; and 4) Management. Please see the attached Causal Map, accompanying IPO statements, and narrative.
An Urban Dreams website has been developed and is currently under construction. The site will serve several purposes: 1) to allow a forum for dialog among teachers and with project staff; 2) to provide a means to access curriculum developed by project participants; and 3) to showcase student work. A website, solely dedicated for the purpose of evaluation, has also been developed and includes the causal mapping process.
Project staff has established ongoing communication regarding program goals and activities, both formally and informally, with the staff at each of the 11 high schools. The staff has met with the language arts and social studies department chairpersons and potential target teachers (individually and in small groups).
OUSD Schools/Staff Meetings
8/19/99--------Skyline High School 10/01/99------Castlemont High School 10/19/99------Skyline High School 10/21/99------Meeting with English Department Coordinator 11/08/99------Meeting with English Department Coordinator 12/17/99------Castlemont High School Social Studies Department 01/07/00------Dewey High School English and History Teachers 01/11/00------Oakland High School English and History Teachers 01/12/00------OUSD Language Arts Coordinator 01/21/00------Oakland Technical High School 01/25/00------Far West High School English and History Teachers 01/31/00------Oakland High School 01/31/00------Street Academy History Department Chairperson 02/01/00------Far West High School 02/04/00------Oakland High School 02/09/00------Street Academy 02/10/00------Skyline High School English and History Teachers 02/15/00------Skyline High School 02/29/00------McClymonds High School 03/07/00------Fremont High School English Department 03/08/00------Castlemont High School 03/13/00------Fremont High School History Department 03/15/00------Oakland High School History Teacher 03/16/00------Oakland Technical High School 03/20/00------Fremont High School 03/21/00------McClymonds High School 03/22/00------Far West High School 03/23/00------Fremont High School 03/23/00------Skyline High School English Department 04/11/00------Far West High School
In March, a comprehensive newsletter, providing a description of the project and an overview of upcoming professional development activities was also distributed to all of the high schools.
Urban Dreams has been met with a favorable response among teachers and administration. In fact, one teacher, new to the district, commented, "This [Urban Dreams] is the kind of project that will keep me teaching in Oakland." A veteran teacher noted, "This [Urban Dreams] is the type of thing that will keep me charged up."
Urban Dreams also meets on a regular basis with agency and university partners outlining, not only the goals of the project, but also delineating roles and responsibilities. Project staff has participated in the following meetings:
Agency/Institute/University Meetings
8/20/99----Martin Luther King Papers Project , Stanford University 8/24/99----Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute 8/23/99----Lightspan 10/1/99----World Affairs Council 10/4/99----Interactive University (California Heritage Project, Connecting Students to the World and Center for Latin American Studies), UC Berkeley 11/04/99---Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute 11/22/99---Interactive University - UC Berkeley 12/08/99---Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute 12/08/99---Interactive University - UC Berkeley 12/10/99---Human Rights in the 21st Century - UC Berkeley 12/20/99---Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute 12/22/99---Interactive University - UC Berkeley 01/28/00---Interactive University - UC Berkeley 02/07/00---World History Project and World Affairs Council 02/17/00---Connecting Students to the World and California Heritage - UC Berkeley 02/24/00---Martin Luther King Papers Project - Stanford University 02/28/00---Interactive University - UC Berkeley 03/01/00---Center for Latin American Studies - UC Berkeley 03/27/00---Center for Latin American Studies - UC Berkeley 03/28/00---Connecting Students to the World - UC Berkely 03/30/00---Connecting Students to the World - UC Berkeley 04/13/00---Center for Latin American Studies 05/03/00---World Affairs Council
1.2 Technology Literacy
By June 2002, Oakland high school graduates who have participated in the Technology Innovation program for three years will demonstrate literacy and proficiency in the use of technological systems, operations, communications, research resources, problem-solving and decision-making tools as measured by pre- and post- program Likert-style questionnaires, projects produced, and a limited number of interviews and demonstrations.
Progress: During this first year of project implementation, Urban Dreams staff continues to actively foster relations with Project Partners and participating Oakland Unified School District Staff. Teachers and project staff have been working extensively with Project Partners and Institutions to guide curriculum enhancement toward the development of Student Project-based Learning Research Investigations. Please refer to the Language Arts and Social Studies Objective progress section.
2.1 Professional Development
| Staff Development 1 |
| Staff Development 2 |
| Technology |
By June 2001 and annually thereafter, Oakland teachers who have participated in the Technology Integration Professional Development Program for at least two years will produce interdisciplinary, multicultural curricula reflecting the themes of human and civil rights.
Progress: The project has made substantial progress toward the achievement of this objective. Urban Dreams staff has recruited 15 language arts and social studies teachers on a voluntary basis to participate in the development of technology-infused thematic units that are based on teacher-selected core literature. These Participating Teachers are engaged in a process to create pilot curricular units that are central to the Urban Dreams theme: Human and Civil Rights. The resulting products, to be completed this spring, will be published on the web and will additionally serve as models to guide other teachers in developing similar units during the Summer Institute. Participating Teachers will also provide coaching for other Urban Dreams participants.
Project staff has designed an overall format to foster the integration of innovative strategies and best practices. Serving as the basis for the published product, a common format, as represented in a series of questions, has been drafted with teacher input:
1. What is the guiding, or essential, question? Connect to Urban Dreams themes of human and civil rights
| Connection to individual piece of literature |
| Connection to role of literature in movements for social justice |
2. What skills will be taught?
3. How does it tie into standards?
4. What is the assessment and how will that guide instruction?
5. What will students and teacher do?
| Activities |
| Assignments |
| Daily calendar |
| Samples of student work |
| Illustrate the process of student learning |
| Samples of exemplary pieces |
6. Teacher commentary
| Rationale and discussion of approach |
| What worked? |
| What didn't? |
| Suggestions and thoughts on |
2.2 Staff development 1
By June 2002, 100% of social studies, language arts teachers and other staff members, as appropriate, working in project high schools will have completed year I staff education activities delineated in the "Technology Integration Professional Development Program."
Progress: Project staff continues to progress toward the achievement of this objective. Urban Dreams has recruited 39 teachers, representing all 11 high schools, to participate in an intensive two-week (July 17-July 28) Summer Institute.
All of the current collaboration efforts among teachers, partners, and project staff will compliment what the partners present during the Summer Institute. A draft outline of the Summer Institute schedule is as follows:
| Mon. 7/17 | Tues. 7/18 | Wed. 7/19 | Thurs. 7/20 |
Fri. 7/21 |
|
MORNING -- King Papers AFTERNOON -- Teacher work: 1) developing questions; 2) looking at course content; 3) discussion and study groups |
MORNING -- Laptop distribution; E-mail set-up AFTERNOON -- "Connecting Students to the World" |
MORNING -- Bay Area Writing Project AFTERNOON -- Netsearching-exploring information connected to essential questions |
MORNING -- Amnesty International speaker AFTERNOON -- Introducing class set-ups |
MORNING -- Technology Training AFTERNOON -- Technology Training |
| Mon. 7/24 | Tues. 7/25 | Wed. 7/26 | Thurs. 7/27 | Fri. 7/28 |
|
MORNING -- Center for Latin American Studies AFTERNOON -- Contemporary World History Project; Book Talk |
MORNING -- Pat Hill, Professor of African American Literature (USF) AFTERNOON -- Collaborative Technology-Infused Thematic Units |
MORNING -- Cal Heritage AFTERNOON -- Reading and Writing
|
MORNING -- Planning Time AFTERNOON -- Yearlong follow-up; participant awards
|
MORNING -- Technology Training AFTERNOON -- Technology Training |
2.3 Staff development 2
By June 2001 and annually thereafter, each cohort of Oakland teachers who have participated in the Technology Integration Professional Development Program for at least two years will demonstrate augmented content knowledge in the disciplines of social sciences and literature, technology uses in the classroom, and constructivist pedagogy as assessed through pre-, post- and ongoing professional development surveys, and through participant-developed curriculum units, thematic lessons and demonstration lessons.
Progress: Project staff continues to progress toward the achievement of this objective. Teachers are being provided with 2-3 release days this spring to work with colleagues, as well as project/institute partners, to develop and pilot classroom materials and web-based resources. Urban Dreams is working with the following Partners:
1) The Martin Luther King Papers Project at Stanford University
Project staff has met with the King Papers Project partners to discuss expectations, goals, and the design of teacher-developed curriculum that will best fit the resources, that as Urban Dreams partners, they will provide. Urban Dreams has recruited three teachers to participate in the King Papers Project. Five sessions have been held in which the following topics have been discussed:
| Dr. Clay Carson -- expert assistance in defining appropriate documents in the King archives that would facilitate the development of curricula that is interesting and relevant to students |
| Defining historical figures that engaged in the struggle for justice in the United States, i.e. Fannie Lou Hamer, Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, and others |
| What motivated members of the movement to take the steps they did to facilitate their movement? |
| What were the strategies within each movement and why were they appropriate to the time they were used? |
| Liberation Curricula -What motivated these historic figures to move from illiteracy to literacy, i.e. Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Frederick Douglass all have short expository explanations |
The King Papers Project is also scheduled during the Summer Institute and will include additional presentations with Dr. Carson for all teachers.
2) UC Berkeley "Interactive University" including the California Heritage Project
Project staff has facilitated two meetings with Cal Heritage to define their role in the Summer Institute. The Summer Institute will offer a full day workshop with Cal Heritage to acquaint participants with their resources and to teach them how to effectively use them in the classroom.
Connecting Students to the World
On May 19th, at Skyline High School, Connecting Students to the World representatives will use past interviews to present the role that writing (both expository and literature) plays in several famous people's lives and how they made decisions concerning what they wrote about. Teachers and students will then discuss how that connects to individual student's writing.
Center for Latin American Studies
To date, four to six teachers have participated in three sessions with the Center for Latin American Studies. The first session was held April 13 from 4:00-5:00 with the following agenda:
|
Discuss and identify specific topics or materials that might be the focus of work this spring. |
|
Develop a timeline for completion of the work. |
|
Discuss questions and ideas you may have about the project and our work with the Center. |
|
Set compensation for your work on this project. |
On May 16th, participating teachers are scheduled to go to the UC Berkeley campus, with their ideas in hand, and the Center staff will assist them with pooling resources appropriate to their needs.
3) The Contemporary World History Project and the World Affairs Council
Teachers have been observing and planning projects through the Contemporary World History Project. Two teachers will work directly with CWHP and will attend their summer institute.
4) The Bay Area Writing Project
The Bay Area Writing Project is also scheduled to participate in the Urban Dreams Summer Institute.
Underlying the professional development component is ongoing staff training in technology use and integration. Urban Dreams is providing participants with accessibility to technology training in a multitude of ways.
A series of technology workshops is being facilitated this spring as follows:
| Introduction to Classroom Technology Integration for High School Teacher (Wednesdays, May 17-May 31 - 4:30-7:30) |
| How to Present an English or History Lesson Using Technology Tools (Tuesdays, April 25-May 9 - 4:30-7:30) |
| Web Page Workshop for High School History and English Teachers (Tuesdays, May 16-May 30 - 4:30-7:30) |
Technology training sessions will also be incorporated into the Summer Institute and will be provided throughout the duration of the project, allowing new teachers opportunities to participate.
Urban Dreams is also contracting with CompUSA and Horizon to further provide individual technology training to improve basic computer skills. With this flexibility, the project does not have to rely on providing substitute teachers, as there is a tremendous lack of substitutes in the district (and throughout the State of California).
In June, July, and August, project staff is sponsoring a series of 39 "Quick Shops" designed to provide teachers with short technology skill development. These sessions will include: Virtual Museum; Word I/II/III/IV; Internet Research; E-Mail; Collaborative Tools; Peripherals; Paint/Draw; Web Page I/II/III; Multimedia; and PowerPoint.
In addition to technology workshops, Urban Dreams staff is promoting teacher professionalism by facilitating a study group: Technology, and the History of Schools. Beginning in April, this group is meeting monthly to read about and discuss the challenges and possibilities of integrating new technology into high school classrooms. The discussion is based on the book, "Tinkering Towards Utopia - A Century of Public School Reform" by David Tyack and Larry Cuban.
Important to note, is that work with project partners is being piloted this spring, will continue throughout the Summer Institute, and will be ongoing throughout the duration of the project
3.1 Parent involvement
By June 2001, 75% of program participants' parents and/or guardians will participate in at least one parent activity appropriate to their parenting situation.
Progress: Project staff continues to progress toward achieving this objective. Urban Dreams staff is collaborating with the Oakland Technology Exchange (OTX) Project to provide students and parents with technology training that will enhance their use of the donated refurbished computers placed in their homes.
An Urban Dreams Parent/Community Coordinator has been hired to oversee this component by arranging for school liaisons, storage for the computers as they arrive from OTX, parent/student trainings, and designing a database to track the placement of computers. Additionally, "family friendly" quick-start and trouble-shooting manuals have been designed in cooperation with OTX and AmeriCorps. There will be a total of 300 computers distributed to families at two high schools (Fremont and Castlemont). Fully one-third of the district's comprehensive high schools will have each provided 300 families with computers by June of this year. Eventually, computers will be available to all project students.
3.2 Community Engagement
By June 2002, members from collaborating Institutes for Higher Education (IHEs) and identified community partners in business and/or social service agencies will participate in at least one school-community activity appropriate to improvement of instructional service delivery to students.
Progress: Project staff has made substantial progress toward achieving this objective. Urban Dreams is a collaborative effort involving several key partners in providing quality relevant professional development to participating teachers. Key partners include:
| Martin Luther King Papers Project - Stanford University |
| California Heritage Project - UC Berkeley |
| Connecting Students to the World - UC Berkeley |
| Center for Latin American Studies - UC Berkeley |
| The Contemporary World History Project & The World Affairs Council - Stanford University |
| Bay Area Writing Project |
Additionally, the project, through Oakland Technology Exchange, continues to work with businesses/organizations in donating computers to be refurbished and distributed to parents. The following businesses/organizations have participated this year:
| Clorox |
| IBM |
| Peoplesoft |
| United States Army |
4.1 Equal Access
By June 2004, every high school student in Oakland Unified School District will have consistent access to computer technology as instructional and learning tools in their social studies and language arts classes and classrooms.
Progress: By June, of this year, 250 additional computers will have been placed in 50 classrooms for student use. Every comprehensive high school will have the use of a set of 30 electronic keyboards with infrared connectors to computers and printers to allow for whole class instruction. Participating Teachers will also be provided with additional classroom equipment to facilitate the integration of technology in their classrooms. The following equipment will be provided in the individual classrooms: 1) Two multimedia computers; and 2) a teacher laptop. Available on a check-out basis will be an EduCart equipped with a computer, projector, mini camera (to project lessons on screen) and a 34" television. Training on the use of this equipment will be provided as described in the "Technology Training" professional development activity.
© Copyright 2001 Center for Evaluation and Research, LL
