Our Approach
We are not a school ranking site
We introduce families to new ways of thinking about school quality. We identify factors that our experience and research tell us are more important than those traditionally used in popular school ratings.
We celebrate overlooked schools
Wealthy and White students are highly concentrated in just a handful of OUSD schools, and this reinforces the myth of only a few “good schools.”
By highlighting overlooked schools that demonstrate strong performance in certain areas, we hope to encourage families to consider a wider group of schools.
Our list is not exhaustive
The factors we use to determine which schools to feature will grow over time. We hope to reveal many, many wonderful Oakland schools.
If you are considering a low-demand school that is not on our list and want information beyond the same old standardized test scores, please reach out.
Our data is different
We use the metrics below to give parents a better picture of school quality than snapshot test scores. You can find a copy of our data for each OUSD elementary school here.
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Test score growth reflects the impact of a school on students’ performance on the Math and English Language Arts (ELA) SBAC tests, controlling for factors such as prior academic experience and student demographics. We look at schools’ year-to-year gains on each test in comparison to similar students in “CORE” districts across California.
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One of the biggest determinants of a school’s success is the quality of its teaching staff. While this can be difficult to measure, teacher retention and the number of years of teacher experience serve as good, if imperfect, proxies. Teachers arguably become more effective the longer they have been in the classroom. Moreover, less turnover provides much needed stability for a school. We focus on schools with above average rates of teachers returning to their same site after three years, and of teachers with more than five years of teaching experience.
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Outside of its teaching staff, an experienced and dedicated principal is paramount to a school’s success. Principals with longer tenures offer critical historical knowledge to drive change. Through online resources, we identify schools whose principals were entering at least their 4th year at the school in 2021.
Our schools have multiple strengths
A school is featured if it matched ALL of the following criteria:
Math or English Language Arts (ELA) CORE test score growth was above average (50th percentile or higher).
Three-year teacher retention or teacher experience of 6+ years was above average (50th percentile or higher).
Principal tenure was at least 4 years in 2021.
A reasonable waitlist (below district average), so parents aren’t competing to get in.
