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Equitable Enrollment Pilot Proposal

Chabot Elementary

October 28, 2020

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Background - What you probably already know - what’s on the surface:

Located in Rockridge - in an affluent, mostly white neighborhood
Outlier in OUSD - Have one of the highest concentrations of white and middle class (or above) student populations in the District
Very active parent community (PTA) - raises a lot of $
High test scores overall; high ratings on sites like “Great Schools”
The lowest “Environmental Stress Factor” in OUSD

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Background - What you may not know:

One of the largest elementary schools in Oakland (580 students K-5) - unique position bc we can easily serve all of the neighborhood families and many others from all over Oakland
40% of our students do NOT live in Chabot’s neighborhood
Led by our SSC, there is a large and growing group of staff and parents who are extremely committed to doing the long term, hard work, of making Chabot truly inclusive, equitable and responsive to the needs of every student at our school
Our community is also very invested in working with OUSD and other schools to support high quality schools for every child throughout OUSD

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Goals of Equitable Enrollment Pilot

To increase socioeconomic and racial diversity at Chabot
To stay true to our school’s Vision and Mission
Vision: Through meaningful relationships, intentional inclusivity, and responsive instruction Chabot Elementary interrupts inequitable practices and challenges biases. We uncover and remove the predictability of success and failure that correlates to any social or cultural factor. As a community, we discover and cultivate the unique gifts, talents, and interests of every human being.
Mission: Chabot students are valued and empowered so that they are able to take academic risks, problem solve, make connections, and use evidence to think critically. Students develop empathy, awareness, and perspective-taking in order to support each other, celebrate differences, and be agents of change.
To increase our capacity to really serve every student and family in our community

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Rationale

Studies consistently show that attending schools that are economically and racially integrated improves educational and life outcomes for all students, with the greatest benefit going to those from historically-marginalized groups.

If historical enrollment patterns hold, Chabot has the capacity to increase diversity without making changes to the district-wide policy of giving neighborhood families enrollment priority.

Historically, about 40% of our students come from outside “our neighborhood” -noticing/wondering - why that 40% is still not at all reflective of Oakland as a city - in terms of race, language, or socio-economic status (outlier in OUSD)

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Chabot has consistently filled only ~50-60% of seats with students who live in the Attendance Area

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Chabot’s community does not reflect the broader OUSD community

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Proposal

Add a priority after neighborhood for families living in low-income areas*.

New proposed priority structure would be as follows:

Siblings
Opportunity Ticket - up to 50% of available seats (n/a for incoming grades K, 6, 9)
Neighborhood Families
Children of School Staff
Families living in low-income neighborhoods
All other Oakland residents
Non-Oakland residents

Priorities would be in place for a 3-year pilot, with the plan to re-evaluate annually for impact.

*For initial year of pilot, this would be identified using Census block group data.

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Estimated Impact

2019 - 9 additional students out of 580 from this demographic;

(18% Free and reduced lunch = 104 students with 9 more, we would be at 19.4% - assumes all students on priority would qualify)

2020 - 34 additional students out of 580 from this demographic (assuming still 18% w/o pilot - would increase to 138 or 23.7%

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Community Engagement and Feedback

There is widespread community support for this idea. We solicited feedback from the community in the following ways:

Staff meeting discussion
School Site Council and PTA Board meeting discussions
All-school community meeting on zoom
Online surveys - one for families, one for staff

All feedback was enthusiastic about this plan. The primary consideration raised by all stakeholders was, What can we do to make sure all families feel welcome at Chabot?

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Considerations

Estimated impact was modeled based on recent years of data, which may or may not be a good predictor of what happens in future years.
Enrollment priority does not guarantee diversity - need a more comprehensive plan addressing recruitment.
We looked at historical data to see which schools Chabot might draw students away from, and it does not appear that this would impact any one school by more than a handful of students. But it’s something we would want to track, to make sure that this does not negatively impact nearby schools.
Chabot’s “neighborhood” was recently expanded to include the former Kaiser catchment. Will this larger catchment area result in more in-neighborhood applications for seats, effectively blunting the impact of this pilot?

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Creating a Welcoming School- Climate/ Culture

The most important thing that we need to be right now is a welcoming school for all our students. Chabot has strong leadership, staff and parent groups that are working towards a shared vision of Equity each and every day within our classroom and throughout our community. We believe in honoring diverse lived experiences with an asset-based approach

We are investing in building relationships that promote and celebrate caring for all
Our Equity and Leadership Team are collectively focused on modeling the behaviors, engagement strategies and classroom structures and routines we value using inquiry, positive behavior incentives and systems, and social emotional sensitivity
We are leveraging parent partnerships and engagement to build capacity and deconstruct inequitable systems
We are creating safe spaces to share multiple perspectives and have “uncomfortable” conversations so that we can continue to learn from one another

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Appendix

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IMPACT - Demographics of Entering Students

	# New Students (Total #)	# Seats for Non- Neighborhood, Non-sibling	# of New Students Eligible for Priority	# Remaining on Waitlist Eligible for Priority	If pilot had been in place - Maximum Possible Impact
2019 Grade K	91- actual	12	3	36 (of 175 on WL)	12/91 instead of 3/91 13% vs 3.2%
2019 Grades 1-5	23 (491)	8	5	21 (of 104 on WL)	8/23 instead of 5/23 35% vs 23% of new (1.6% vs 1% of all)
2020 Grade K	90 actual	32 (Covid High)	9	26 (of 125 on WL)	32/90 instead of 9/90 35% vs 10%
2020 Grades 1-5	43 (490)	29	10	44 (of 175 on WL)	29 instead of 10 67% vs 23% of new (5.9% vs 2% of all)

2019 - 9 additional students out of 580 from this demographic;

(18% Free and reduced lunch = 104 students with 9 more, we would be at 19.4% - assumes all students on priority would qualify)

2020 - 34 additional students out of 580 from this demographic (assuming still 18% w/o pilot - would increase to 138 or 23.7%

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Creating a Welcoming School- The Whole Child

Focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) = Social skills, mental health, academics=Huge in deconstructing inequitable Systems
Restorative Justice Practices- Office, classroom, yard
Acknowledge importance of representation- Peers, staff, Teachers, Admin
Strong Coordination of Services Team (COST)- School-wide PBIS tier-based intervention system - Aware that systemically Black & Latinx students are over referred to office for discipline or SPED
Student Success Team Meetings- Value Partnerships w/ Families to learn more and direct supports- Monitor progress and goals

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Creating a Welcoming School- Data & Target Support

Inquiry Cycles- Analyze data to direct Instruction

Differentiate
Small Group Targeted Instruction

Small Group Intervention Staff- More targeted support

Gives teacher more flexibility for small group instruction

Promote a variety opportunities for ALL Students and families to actively engage in our school community

Parent/ Teacher Conferences
Volunteer opportunities
Assemblies/ Cultural Events
Surveys

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Creating a Welcoming School- Parent Engagement

School Site Council (SSC)- Focus on Equity: Create a safe space for family members to share personal experiences, diverse perspectives, and learn how to listen to each other in order to target systems and structures that need to change.

Intentional Invitations and partnerships
Focus on Equitable practices, engagement & outcomes for All

Equity & Inclusion Committee: Created a budget to fund work over past 5+ years to support Chabot’s Vision- PD for teachers, SEL training for teachers/staff, academic intervention programs, diverse books in classrooms, Supplies for students in our Inclusion program, supporting families experiencing hardships

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Creating a Welcoming School- We are Always Learning

Continue trainings for staff and parent workshops: Culturally Responive Pedagogy, Implicit bias, Equity/Incusion, Anti-Racist
Working with staff to develop Anti-Racist curriculum
Strong Teacher Retention= Leadership and Equity Focus expanding
Guide PTA Focus and funding to align with Chabot Vision

Building an Inclusive Community
Enrichments /Interventions
Community events
Fundraising
Strengthening our ability to engage in “uncomfortable” conversations to move our community forward

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Chabot community is not reflective of the broader OUSD community

Lower income student (qualifies for free / reduced lunch)

Does not qualify for free / reduced lunch